11 Smart Ways To Make Life Easier (As A Creative)

This post may contain affiliate links, which means we'll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure here.

Want to know the best ways to make your life easier? These are tested and approved clever ideas to make life easier that you need to know about.

I’ve always been kind of lazy. No jokes. And I am not talking about lack of drive or ambitions. On the contrary — I am a hard worker. But sometimes I have to put tons of energy into something that could be done in a shorter time or automatically. Instead of focusing on bigger things. Slightly annoying. In this post, I’ll show you the exact techniques that I swear by.

You are going to learn how to make life easy and happy — from apps and products to habits and routines.

After learning about all of these simple hacks to make your life easier, you are going to have more clarity of mind, and also more tools for handling everyday tasks faster and more efficiently.

This post is all about the best ways to make life easier (especially, if you are a self-employed creative or an entrepreneur).

Let’s dive right in.

BEST WAYS TO MAKE LIFE EASIER

1. 📝 Write Everything Down

Creatives are a mess — the best kind. We have so much going on in our heads. Once I ignore my urge to write down a random thought, address for a meeting, or the name of the book to check out — I forget it immediately the very next moment.

That’s why this one is my absolute favorite, best and first tip: write EVERYTHING down.

Scrolling through the chats to find at what time you are having lunch with your potential collaborator? Nope, you need to save this time for more important tasks. Think of it as a “second brain”. You are storing all those useful records in a separate place, allowing yourself to concentrate.

For taking notes I usually use my Notion app or my Moleskine notebook (more details about this in #8 of this post).

What you can write down:

• Random thoughts and ideas
  My most valuable ones always come to me in the shower. That’s why my phone is always with me, even in the bathroom.

• Work meetings
  Use Google Calendar, for example.

• Books and movies
  If you are like me, you need to read and watch a lot for your job. It’s so helpful to have lists of things to check out.

• Notes for studies
  If you take courses and watch documentaries on the topics relevant to your career, this might also be useful to keep your notes around.

• Your dreams
  A dream journal is great to look through after a while. You can track patterns in your emotional state and many other things.

• Quotes
  You can use them in your writing or journaling. Or a source of motivation.

This list can be endless! Whatever little thing you don’t want to forget — throw it in there.

RELATED POST: 41 Amazing Journaling Prompts To Try Right Now

2. 🕑 Develop Your Daily Routines

These are real mood boosters and life improvers.

Daily routines affect our energy level and performance. They are one of the simple ways to make life easier.

A proper morning routine will help to wake up, set the right vibe for the day, and focus.

An evening one will let the body know that the day is over and we are ready to get that well-deserved rest.

I’m pretty sure you know exactly what it’s like to be getting out of the bed sleepy and tired, or tossing and turning in your bed at 3 am. Every time I decide to stare at my phone in the morning instead of sticking to my routine — that’s what happens. Ouch.

Let me share some things that you may want to do daily:

Morning routine ideas:

Evening routine ideas:

Try these ideas out and see which ones work for your lifestyle and schedule.

3. 📩Keep An “Outstanding” Envelope On Your Desk

Do you have a bunch of little documents and papers that require your action? For that, you can keep an “Outstanding” envelope on your desk. Put in there all the papers that you have to act on any time soon. This simple habit will make your desk look more organized. Then just check it once a week.

What you can put in your “Outstanding” envelope:

• Outstanding invoices and receipts
  
• Unopened letters
  
• Post-it notes with your to-dos
  
• Vouchers and cards (my friend gave me a “complimentary class” card in her yoga studio. I am still trying to find time to use it)

4. ☝🏼Create Your Own Rules

I love the “no-exceptions rule” from Jack Canfield’s book The Success Principles. He wrote:

Successful people adhere to the “no exceptions rule” when it comes to their daily disciplines. Once you make a 100-percent commitment to something, there are no exceptions. It’s a done deal. Nonnegotiable. Case closed!

“The Success Principles” by Jack Canfield

99% commitment is hard. If we break it once (because of that 1%), it’s easy to break again. With 100% commitment there is no grey area. We’ve made up our mind. It’s settled. We just do it no matter what. We save energy by not thinking about it anymore. SO cool!

This also contributes to maintaining our boundaries. These are our guidelines for how you treat yourself. And more importantly — how we want to be treated.

Let’s say you set a day for meetings on Tuesdays. That’s it! It’s Tuesdays only. No more squeezing appointments in, late rain checks, and sacrificing your own time. Totally one of the best ways to make life easier.

Make a list of what’s not serving you. Dump it! Make a room for new habits that bring more clarity.

5. 🗓 Have Your Stable Weekly Schedule

If you are anything like me, you often find yourself overwhelmed with the amount of things you have to accomplish each day. Multitasking is great but sometimes you just have to focus on just one task (relatively) to get it done.

What I found out, is that you can plan your weeks so that each day is dedicated to a specific task. It is almost like a time-blocking, but weekly.

For example, you are a content creator. Your Monday could be all about research, emails, and planning. Then on Tuesday, you are actually creating your content without any distractions. On Wednesday, you could be reviewing and revising, putting finishing touches. On Thursday, your content is going live, so you are doing all the marketing and also brainstorming for the next week. On Friday, you could be connecting to your audience, and examining feedback.

Obviously, this is not set in stone — it’s just an example. The main point is that each day you are focusing on a specific part of your work, without feeling overwhelmed by all the rest of the things you’ll have to eventually get done.

RELATED POST: A Great Productivity Hack No One Told You About

6. 👁 Freeze For A Moment

I have this little technique that I came up with when I was just starting my career. I call it “Quick Freeze”.

From time to time I just pause for a moment. I do a brief check-up. I ask myself:

“Are you okay? How does what you are doing at the moment make you feel?”

I believe our bodies know exactly what we need. It is set somewhere on deep levels that we can never reach. So it’s a great idea to buy this little moment to reflect on how you are feeling. Are you still doing this because you truly want to?

Freeze for a second when you:

• Have to say yes/no to an invitation
  
• Have to say yes/no to a project that makes you little money and takes a lot of time
  
• Feel exhausted and indifferent to something that you are usually excited about
  
• Want to lock yourself up in the apartment and not go out for a week (that happens to me from time to time)

It puts me at ease knowing that I am still listening to myself. I am still in control.

7. 💼 Prepare Your Clothes & Bag The Night Before

Boring but very simple. And definitely worth it.

It depends on your job and schedule, but mornings can be stressful. That’s why it’s a good idea to have it all prepped the night before.

Run through the next day in your mind. Then put together the outfit and pack your bag. Steam the clothes if needed.

Checklist of questions to ask yourself:

1. What kind of day is that for you?
   
2. Do you have any meetings?
   
3. Are you going somewhere later that evening?
   
4. What will the weather be like?
   
5. Do you need your laptop or notebook with you?
   
6. What else you may need?
   
7. Check up on what you’ve been feeling like lately — think of the outfit you would feel considerable comfortable in.

8. 📌 Use Notion For Notes & Project Planning

I LOVE Notion. My life changed completely when I discovered it.

I also use my Moleskine for journaling, gratitude letters, and sketches. No structure needed with these, and I feel more connected with the paper and pen.

I choose Notion 90% of the time though. It’s super accessible and I can reach my notes both on my phone and my laptop at any time.

For example, this is how I keep records of my “personal growth” plans and accomplishments:

Notion’s databases are PERFECT for project and content planning. I use it both for my styling and writing projects. It cleans up whatever mess you have in your work. It systemizes everything and lets you make your magic by allowing you to find any information in seconds.

I owe it to Notion a tiny bit for starting this blog too (smells like oversharing).

9. ⏳Schedule Buffer Time

This is an idea for sufficient planning that I use all the time.

Buffer time is simply a block of extra time added to a task or an appointment.

It protects your other plans and prevents delays. You basically get to manage unexpected circumstances (or at least, to not let them ruin the day). And it’s especially useful if you have a busy schedule.

Depending on a task, anything from 15 minutes to an hour should do the work. With the specifics of my job, I sometimes even have a buffer day. My prep may take more time than the production of the project itself. So I prefer to be safe in case of late brief changes or new details called in.

If things went the way they were planned — amazing! Use those minutes to recollect, prepare for your next meeting, work on your side projects, or call your mom. Yup, I always do the last one!

10. ✨ Simplify Your Everyday Processes

That’s where my laziness kicks in. I have been doing this intuitively my whole life, just to realize years later that that’s what people learn how to do.

It does NOT make sense to me to spend a lot of time where I can use a “prompt”. And get it over with quickly.

Try to implement these simple rules:

• Simple grocery shopping: develop sets of your favorite meals and matching grocery lists, and switch between them
  
• Put everything you use daily in one place
  
• Order your coffee ahead before you leave the house in the morning (the Starbucks app has that option, for example)
  
• Clean as you go — do the dishes right after eating, and do quick tidy up every day to avoid chaos in your working space
  
• If you are working in Notion or any other note-taking app — use templates
  
• If your work is based on Instagram or Pinterest — use presets for pictures or graphic design platforms with image templates (like Canva)

11. 🤡 Stop Trying to Please People

Let’s be honest — we all do. To some extent.

The truth is that it’s impossible to make everyone like us. You probably heard this before million times.

So why even bother?

I am still learning to stick to this rule consistently in some aspects. Usually I say what’s truly on my mind, but I sometimes fail to not give a damn about what people think of me.

What I like to tell myself:

“You don’t need anyone’s approval. You are creating new worlds that people get inspired by. Isn’t it wonderful? Act accordingly.“

I hope these tips gave you some ideas on the ways to make your life easier. A gentle reminder — what works for me, might not work for you. Think of a creative way you could apply these ideas in your life.