Ready to start your slow and simple journey? Have no idea where to start?

Here are six simple steps to get your started on your journey to Slow.

1) If You’re in a Hole, STOP DIGGING.

Obvious, but if you’re anything like me, this one realization will hit you over the head like an electric fence on a sweaty summer afternoon. (No one else knocked themselves out with an electric fence to the noggin? Just me? Movin’ on.)

Sometimes, on the way to a new, shiny goal, we forget that before we start something new, we have to STOP doing the things that made us feel so overwhelmed that we forgot to unplug the fence in the first place.

Don’t add anything new to your schedule, your goal list, your great big life to-do list, your wardrobe, your home.

If you don’t do this first step, nothing else will help.

2) Set New Priorities

For most of us, our stated priorities and our daily choices are seriously out of step. Misalignment between what we believe and what we actually do is a pretty efficient route to burnout, depression and a general sense of dissatisfaction with our lives.

Go get yourself a scrap piece of paper. Write your values on one side, your daily activities on another. Do they jive?

For most of us they will be drastically out of step. Embarrassingly so. It’s ok.

Now, looking at your values, set new priorities.

This can be the hardest part.

(And by-the-by, having multiple priorities is an oxymoron. Interesting tidbit – Did you know the word “priority” did not have a plural form until the 1900s? Apparently we managed to use the word for – oh, 500 years – properly before some silly person decided we could and should somehow have more than one most important thing. Says a lot about our culture, doesn’t it?)

There can only be one first thing.

PICK ONE priority for each category in your life.

3) Eliminate

This is where most people start, having skipped the first two steps.

Decluttering is great, but isn’t a cure-all if you don’t a) stop bringing new shit in and b) have clear priorities in order to know what should stay and what should go.

And don’t think your purge should be limited to your closet or garage. Look at your schedule, your habit, your mindset, your finances.

Ask yourself – What would this look like if were easy?

That might mean automating payments or savings, creating a capsule wardrobe where everything matches so you can literally get dressed in the dark, or giving yourself permission to say, you know what – I hate going to bookclub, so I’m not gonna do that anymore.

4) Set Practical, Achievable Goals

So much of what is out there regarding the Slow and Simple Life is so … My Mum would say, affected. Does anyone use that word anymore?

They completely miss the point.

Going Slow everywhere simply for the sake of going slow is just as crazy as going fast everywhere just for the sake of going fast. Sometimes, going fast is fun!

Also, “living a slower life” is a pretty amorphous goal. You need bite-sized, specific, tangible goals. You need to know when you’ve succeeded, or you’ll get overwhelmed and quit.

Maybe your goal is to be more present for your family.

Make that concrete. Promise yourself you won’t check your phone during dinner. Or set aside time on Sunday mornings to get down on the floor with them and play horsies or lego.

Your goals don’t have to involve getting in touch with your wisdom chakra or spending a fortune on home decor so that the rest of the world knows, hey – this is a Slow Home.

Make it small and easy and tangible, and – most importantly – make it fun!

5) Schedule Time for Your Slow Goals

Setting a date on our dreams makes them goals, and scheduling time to execute those goals makes them real.

Living a slower, simpler life is no different from any other big goal, even though it seems etherial and maybe a little woo-woo. Making it concrete and then taking deliberate action is what will make it real. Treat it like any other goal. Book it. Carve out time. Be specific in your aim.

Schedule regular time to:

• Unsubscribe from email lists
• Exercise
• Pray or Meditate
• Eat as a family
• Read for pleasure
• Wet your pants laughing with your girlfriends
• Cook meals
• Do a whole lotta sweet-ass nothin

6) Give Yourself Grace

Gosh, if I had a nickel for everywoman I heard gettin’ all stressed out about trying to slow down her life . . . My goodness.

That is NOT. THE. POINT.

Slowing down and simplifying your life take effort, yes, but it shouldn’t turn you into a wailing banshee of stress. Seriously. Be mindful of how you talk about your journey to Slow and Simple.

Are you getting yourself all worked up with  – I gotta check my email and then I gotta do this other thing and pick up the kids and do my errands aaaaannnd I gotta meditate now, too???

Woosh . . . All your Slow Zen energy gets sucked out the car window as you’re racing from one gong show to another in a self-inflicted shit storm of stress. (Can ya tell I’ve been there? Yup.)

Shift your perspective, recognize that you’re the captain of this ship and calm the eff down. Take a breath, check yourself – is it REALLY the end of the world or all that stressful to have that list of things to do?

Then tell yourself you’ve got this. You don’t have to be perfect, nor does your Slow and Simple Life have to look like anyone else’s. Making big changes take time and effort and more than anything, a major shift in mindset.

It’s hard work, but you can do the hard things. I promise.

So give yourself a little grace, keep putting one foot in front of the other and have faith in yourself. You are capable and courageous. You CAN swim upstream against the glorification of busy, and even have fun along the way.