There’s a lot of talk these days about volunteer simplicity and downsizing on your own terms. The idea is to improve your life balance and reduce your stress at the same time. The term given to this trend is called downshifting or downshifting lifestyle. Wikipedia defines Downshifting as the following:
Downshifting is a social behavior or trend in which individuals live simpler lives to escape from the rat race of obsessive materialism and to reduce the stress, overtime, and psychological expense that may accompany it. It emphasizes finding an improved balance between leisure and work and focusing life goals on personal fulfillment and relationship building instead of the all-consuming pursuit of economic success.”
Now that’s a pretty good goal, so it’s no wonder that downshifting lifestyle is getting a lot of press these days. In fact, there’s a story in the recent issue of FORBES titled Downshift that I came across, with the sub-headline of “What happens when you trade in your high-income lifestyle for something different?”
All the stories are about 7 figure or 6 figure earners who get laid off or decide to start taking it easy instead of running around a hamster wheel in the rat race. In short, they decide to downshift. Some choose to sell everything or move to a far off place, leaving friends and family members behind.
Do you really need to go to these extremes if you want to downshift?
If you’re in a financial bind, sell your house, but buy a smaller (i.e., less expensive house) in your same neighborhood. Can’t find a cheaper home in your neighborhood? Then move to the town over or the one over from that.
You can make a career change if your job and life sucks, but why not first try to change careers within your company where you have a proven track record, benefits and colleagues who you like spending time with?
Go on vacations, but drive there instead and don’t live like a King or Queen.
In short, simplify and downshift, just don’t radically change your life because you hate your job or are working too many hours. Don’t leave your roots (family, friends, neighbors), just because you lost your job.
Stop. Think. Find a solution that will work…long-term.
You can downshift, reprioritize and get more out of life without going to extremes and making irreversible decisions. Simplify at work to get more done in less time so you spend less time at work and more at home. Delegate work, reengineer processes and/or negotiate your workload better with your boss.
If after a period of time things don’t improve, then and only then should you get radical. Jumping from your present situation to an extreme is not wise in my opinion, but do what works best for you. I would start with eliminating clutter and doing an 80/20 analysis to understand how to get more efficient.
From there I would take it day by day, tracking my progress with cutting back expenses and managing my workload. If things don’t improve after 30 to 60 days I would consider changing again, but only after my small baby steps approach.
Remember, downshifting might be necessary, but figure out first how far you have to truly downshift before you make an irreversible move.
Fabio Marciano is an accomplished author and runs the popular blog Cubicle Millionaire. He is dedicated to radically changing people's lives first through their finances and their work. He frequently writes about a variety of topics, namely getting ahead at your full-time job, doing great work, losing weight and getting in shape, creating a second income, how to plan for the future and how to be more productive (to name a few topics). 
