Life hacks: what have you learned that has made your life easier?

I’ll start. If you have several tasks to perform, begin with the thing that is making you the most anxious. After that, the rest will seem a breeze.

Don’t sweat the small stuff, and it’s all small stuff.

Never let life get in the way of living…tink aboot it mon

- Clean while you cook/bake. When you’re done and there is nothing to clean, it’s an amazing experience.

- When you have an appointment, plan on getting there 30 minutes early. It’s a 30-minute gift to yourself. Use it any way you like (meditate, read, nap, listen to music, etc).

- Apply the same skepticism to the thoughts that appear in your head as you do to the words of those around you.

Spreadsheets and databases.

For express service on an elevator. First, get into the elevator. Then, press and hold the button that has the floor you want to go to and the close button at the same time for five seconds or until the elevator starts to move. Just remember to press the close button and the floor button at the same time. Now, you can ride straight to your floor without stopping for anything.

Eat a live toad first thing every morning. The day is bound to improve after that.

I have two general rules for approaching each day, and they tend to balance each other out to temper the highs and lows that happen to everyone:
1. Any day that you can get out of bed is a great day.
2. Any day that you have to get out of bed already has a strike against it.

keep away from toxic people. I have learned to put them entirely out of my life. Both in the real world and cyber world.

On Supercook.com you choose what ingredients you have in the refrigerator and it will suggest a lot of meals you can prepare and recipes to make them.

Wasabi peas and mixed dry-roasted unsalted nuts make a great snack.

If you want to sound really sick when calling into work…lie on your back and hang your head out over the edge of your bed and you will sound really congested.

If you expect to be put on “hold” during a phone conversation, put the phone on “speaker,” and have activities to do…floss teeth, file finger (and other) nails, clean out a junk drawer, do a few exercises with light weights, pluck eyebrows, wash one window, fold laundry, peel a few vegetables for the soup pot.

Dropbox is a beautiful piece of software.

Google calendar will help you keep your shit together.

Knowing even rudimentary programming can save you hours of drudge work.

Being polite and friendly to people in service jobs makes everybody’s day better.

Along the lines of @gailcaeed’s suggestion, there are dozens of little tasks you can do while something heats in the microwave: wash a couple of dishes, check some email, run the dogs outside for a quick pee, clear the clutter off a small surface, etc.

Live an authentic life and be true to yourself.

Look at pictures of your kids when they were little, or your grandkids, first thing every morning, and you’ll start the day off happy happy happy.

Splurge on dishsoap that you think smells amazing. You will look forward to washing dishes.

Clean/change your vacuum filters often.

Rearrange the contents of your pantry and linen closets occasionally.

Paint your walls a color that makes you feel something you need (peace, calm, energized, etc.).

Keep a happy box. Store mementos of the happiest times of your life inside (pictures, programs, thank you cards, invitations, ticket stubs, maps, baby shoes, etc.). Look at the contents of your happy box whenever you need to feel happy or grateful.

From one of those awful “personal growth” books, but via a smart friend, so I do it anyway:
Don’t put off any task that will take less than 2 minutes to perform. Do it now.

@dappled_leaves can I give my husband your phone number??!!

Be organised. Figure out what you have to do and then do it in manageable bits. It works for everything.

- Be with the task you are doing. While doing the dishes, do the dishes. While folding towels, fold towels. Don’t spend that time thinking about what else you could be doing or have to do.

- Make coffee at night (especially during the summer) and put it in the fridge. Wake up to iced coffee.

@Dutchess_III No, I suspect that would take longer than 2 minutes!

He’d put you on hold first. That’s what does! He always does everything later.

May I repeat some of these?
Do the most detested task first.
If you don’t want to date someone , knock off the smiles while you’re chatting.
If you love something you’ve never seen before buy six.
Never spend more than half of what you bring in monthly.
Never have credit card debt. Repeat
Never try an extremely addictive drug.
Floss nightly.
If you have half a dozen addicts in your family line don’t have children .
Read one book per month. Or more.
If you like garlic use more of it.
Drink smoothies with raw spinach in them daily.
If you weigh less than 120 pounds don’t own huge pets.
Never walk barefoot on wet tile.
Don’t think I adhere to my own advice.

@Aster Very good. There’s only one change I would make:

Read one book a week – or more.

I strongly agree. I just don’t have the discipline due to my iMac activities. lol

[I changed mine]

Restaurants give you so many napkins that if you keep them, you won’t need to buy any.

It’s not worth pleasing everyone.

Feeling pain? Take your index finger and press the nail into the first knuckle of the thumb on the same hand just below the finger nail. There is a pressure point there that seems to work as a pain override mechanism. I do it on both hands when at the dentist and works like a charm.

No matter how wealthy or how good looking they are somebody, somewhere, is sick of their shit.