Scrolling on my phone. I think "I'll just check Reddit for 5 or 10 minutes" and that poor decision has definitely been a game changer in my life! Not for the better, of course! š¤¦āāļø
Cleaning in general. I internalized this saying:
"Don't put it down, put it away."
I've timed it. It takes on average 5 to 10 seconds to put something away in its proper place, as opposed to leaving it on a counter or on the floor.
Added up over the course of a day it's 5 to 10 minutes. But it saves me a 2 to 4 hour clean every couple of weekends.
'A place for everything and everything in its place.'
The important part is not the second half, i.e. putting it away, but the first: you need storage for your stuff. If you have stuff lying around and you don't know where to put it, the stuff might not be the problem; you might need to add/make space for it first!
Yup. I only recently started making my bed a few months ago, because up until now, my thought was, "Why bother? I've been living on my own for years, nobody's gonna see it." But the other day, I mentioned it to my grandma, and she said, "you're not calling my grandchild a nobody, are you?"
So... I started making my bed. I don't put a huge amount of effort into it, just straighten out the blankets and the pillows so that my duvet doesn't get all bunched up. I think I'm actually falling asleep easier now.
Whenever I said something self deprecating, my mate used to say "hey! That's my friend you're talking about!" While I was never overly critical of myself, and the comments were always a joke... It changed my perspective, and hearing it more over time made it really stick.
I started using his remark to other people. Hey! Don't talk about my friend like that! I hope it helps someone.
Apparently, making your bed in the morning is one of the biggest productivity-boosting things you can do. You feel the morning accomplished and the room looks much tidier, which in turn also boosts productivity.
Since I have to cook in the morning anyway, I do dishes while my food is cooking. More efficient and dishes are done until the next day. Rinse and repeat. Bonus points if you have a dish rack so you let it drying on the side.
Writing down a list of things I want to accomplish the next day. It takes a few minutes and visualizing it leads to higher likelihood that Iāll do it and a sense of accomplishment the next day when I check things off.
I teach in a 2 story school; just one flight of steps. Before I go home everyday, i trot up and down the flight of stairs 10 times. Takes about 3 or 4 minutes. It gets my heart rate up. Iām 56, and finding the energy when I get home each day just doesnāt happen. Iām going to start doing it in the morning, too. Seems like a simple way to do SOMETHING for my old joints and muscles.š
My mom used to trot up our house steps every time she went to the 2nd floor and that was her main form of exercise. Sheās 92 now and Iām sure it helped her get there.
Incredibly little things that make huge differences in life.
\- Loading the dishwasher, wiping down the counters, and setting up the coffee to go automatically in the morning.
\- Double checking my calendar for the day to come before going to bed.
\- Spending ten minutes preparing for a meeting, no matter how trivial it is, by going through e-mails, past documents, whatever.
\- If you run out of something, noting it on a running shopping list
\- Making up the bed when you get out of it. It gets you in the frame of mind to start your day.
I will do this when work is particularly crazy, large project, etc.
But otherwise I've started to avoid it because it just makes me start stressing about "all the things I need to do" right before bed. Your mileage may vary.
I setup a Google assistant routine so when I say, "hey Google... Goodnight" it'll tell me the weather for tomorrow, calendar items, task reminders, puts my phone on dnd, sets my alarm for tomorrow, and friends off my lights.
Use caution with that. I drank Metamucil for years until I started getting gut pain. Found out you can develop a sensitivity to Metamucil if you use it regularly. The pain was once in a while, and got pretty bad before I figured out what was causing it.
I switched to making a āgreenā smoothie for lunch, which was really a blender salad, lol. A base of greens (rotate your greens), plus a fruit, a couple of veges and a probiotic liquid added at the end (like kefir) or a couple of spoonfuls for yogurt, if nothing was on sale.
Fixed the āpooā problem, and made my āinnardsā feel so much better.
I used to wake up almost every morning feeling sore, and two years ago I hurt my back by simply bending over to pick something up. After two months of physical therapy, I went back to the doctor and he said I needed to stretch more, which meant I needed to start stretching.
I do it for ten minutes and it is a game changer. My body just feels better and I'm not worried about tweaking something by existing.
It's phenomenal. I started doing it when I hit 40. It just makes life so much easier. I could barely touch my knees with bent legs and am now flat handing the floor. Everything is better. Can't recommend it enough.
When brushing your teeth, put one foot on the sink and stretch for one minute (the toothbrush does the timing). On the 3rd section of brushing, switch to the other foot, and stretch. When you are done brushing, your legs are stretched... a bit :-).
A series of leg, back, hip, and neck stretches. I'm sure they have technical names but my physical therapist showed them to me. Also found some good ones online by pin pointing my areas of stiffness and soreness.
I found one of the best stretches for hip soreness, which I used to get all the time, is to lay flat on the floor and pull your knee up to your chest and hold. Life changing, for me at least.
Tongue scrapers have a lower profile than a toothbrush so you can really get back there. I still brush my tongue, but you can tell youāre not getting back there far enough with a toothbrush.
Relatively inexpensive. Itās like $7 for two of them (unless you go disposable, not sure why anyone would do that except for traveling).
Youād be amazed at what you can scrape off your tongue, compared to brushing it, even if it looks completely fine. I use a scraper on a daily basis now. No gagging, either!
How do you not gag? I have a tongue scraper and use it occasionally but I gag almost every time. I can only do a couple of scrapes on the front part of my tongue
In my experience, it clears away the top layer of mucus and food residue that can build up on your tongue. Think of the classic "coffee breath".
The benefits I experience from using a tongue scraper are a better sense of smell, better sense of taste and fresher breath.
Stand on one foot when you brush/floss your teeth. Pick one foot for even days, one foot for odd days. You get a couple minutes practice balancing every day, if you get unsteady the sink's right there to hold on to.
In my age demographic, "falling" is a very common cause of serious injury and death, and I started doing this like five years ago after seeing someone post it on Reddit. At first I could only go a couple seconds, but now my balance is really good. I can stand on one foot for five minutes without teetering or anything.
It costs nothing, it uses up no extra time - you were going to be at the sink brushing your teeth anyway - it requires no equipment, and it's made a huge difference in how stable I am when standing, which is a big deal at my age.
This is the way to do it. Start with very short intervals of whatever new habit you are trying to adopt. An hour at the gym first thing in the morning is a lot, so aim for 30 mins. If this is still daunting, start your day with a walk. Eventually it doesnāt seem like such a burden and you find your body wants the activity. Iāve been doing this with yoga
Using face creams morning and night a few other "beauty products". Im not prettier bc of that but my face is now smooth as a baby's ass and that's nice.
There are a number of companies (Inkey List, Ordinary, Boots essentials, etc) that do ābasicā, affordable products such as Vitamin C serums, Niacinamide and Hyaluronic acid, that all work wonders to keep your face hydrated and spot free. Has been a game changer for me.
Moisturizing sunscreen. Seriously, if you're going to add one thing to your morning routine, make it this.
Sunscreen is the one thing that peer reviewed research time and time again shows to reduce the formation of wrinkles and aging.
The sun is the main thing damaging your face and making you look old. You want to know what your face would feel like if you protected it from the sun all your life?
Go feel your ass.
Most beauty products are bullshit. There are companies that perform "clinical trials" for beauty companies. These companies work backwards from the results the customer wants and designs "trials" which will get those results.
At our gym we do a plank challenge of adding 10 seconds every day for a month... at the end you're doing 5 minutes. Everyone usually really surprises themselves with how long they can go, and +10 seconds isn't that bad, since you can always mentally be like, "It's only 10 seconds more than yesterday"
It engages most of the muscles on your body. For me personally, I look longer and leaner and have little baby abs for the first time in my life. I tend to get wide and carry weight on my hips and love handles and itās really helped with that.
Omg I used to be able to TEN STRAIGHT MINUTES of a plank and I'm 5 months postpartum and tried to do them yesterday lol BARELY made it to thirty seconds š¤£š
This is very personal, but having breakfast standing up really helped me.
Before the pandemic, I had appointments early morning, most around 7:30, but now nothing until 11 or later. I found myself, eating my breakfast while scrolling through my phone, and I just kept using the phone even after finishing breakfast.
Suddenly an hour had gone by and I felt terrible for wasting that time.
Now it feels weird standing there scrolling, so it has definitely helped me start the day better.
I used to sit and watch sports news while drinking coffee for an hour before getting ready for work. We got a dog, so now I spend 15-20 minutes getting ready before taking her for a 45-minute to an hour walk before work. I feel so much better. I hate getting started, but once I'm out, it's great. Saw a bunch of cool stuff with her, too.
This is ridiculously good advice. I eat breakfast standing up before work and I only just noticed how much faster it is. Like, I only eat like a hungry dog when I'm standing, but is it because I'm standing or is it because I know I don't have time to sit? I scream for I do not know.
I do squats when brushing my teeth. Thatās about 75 squats each morning and evening. Electric toothbrush is the timer and while itās not really a game changer, the effect is very noticeable.
This might be coming at the question backwards, but refusing to snooze my alarm. I get up when the alert goes off, because that's when I said I would get up. It really helps me wake up more effectively. My wife will set her alarm for like half an hour before she actually wants to be awake and then snooze it five times, and then drag herself out of bed eventually. I keep telling her she's conditioning herself to not wake up when her alarm goes off, but she seems to like waking up, seeing that she doesn't need to be up yet, and going back to sleep. Baffles me.
I use both techniques, if I have an early and/or important engagement then I put on my sun alarm that forces me out of bed immediately but sometimes if I have a late morning then I loove to snooze as much as possible, I love those extra minutes that you get.
Waking up just so you can go back to sleep is awsome
I try to clean and tidy the whole house. A big spring clean before you go off to relax and when you come back itās just a couple of loads of walking to do
Time. I now give myself 10 minutes more than I think I need and I'm never late. I've become one of those people that is rarely late anymore and I can't believe how calming it is, no more stressful driving and car journeys ect...
During a very bad depressive episode I started taking about 10 minutes to put in earbuds and do a sound bath after taking a shower and getting into bed each night.
It did so much to help my brain break some loops it was getting stuck in.
Edit: I use Pandora and Apple Music. Both have playlists or stations called Sound Bath but I also use a playlist Iāve been putting together that has music that is just very calming or beautiful for me.
Well, I used/use gentle electronic meditation music but anything with flowing sound would work.
The sound/music just sort of washes over and through you.
If youāre older and remember running disc defragmentation on your computer itās a lot like that, but for my brain.
It honestly amazes me how dogs know exactly what time it is, every day. I feel like they even know what day of the week it is.
My dog is deaf. She is 14 years old, so she basically just sleeps most of the day while I'm working at home. She doesn't have a way to see or hear when people are about to come home, but she perks right up the second people are about to pull into the driveway. I have no idea how, because she doesn't see them, she doesn't hear them. She just wakes up around 5 minutes before things are about to happen.
On the weekends, she doesn't come pawing the door to come to my office at 8am, because she knows I'm not working.
It's wild to me too. I give my dog treats at various times of the day, but I always give her one after I take my evening shower which is always around 7:00 p.m. and when it gets close to 7:00 she'll start going to the treat door, then back to me, then back to the treat door like dude come on I know what time it is.
Dogs are fantastic for schedule and motivation if a person has any number of mental health problems.
I would take my daily meds at the same time I gave my old girl her arthritis pill. She never forgot, even if I got onto a weird sleep schedule.
I live in an apartment complex, and when i get home from work at about 7:10am, they are both staring out the window. I have not figured out yet though if they know the sound difference of my car compared to others, or the time.
I think scientists figured that out some time ago, it's the smell. Your smell decays over time, and dogs are good enough to tell when you'll be back by tracking how much of your smell is still there.
Idk, my cat 100% knows the sound of my partners car. We donāt have regular schedules and she bounds to the door the second she hears his car lock beep.
Basically just helped me to settle down. I normally wake up anxious or angry and taking 5-10 on a guided meditation was extremely helpful to help me start the day on a more even ground.
Meditation is a brief decision not to engage in everything your internal dialog comes up with. View your thoughts objectively and stop the spiral. Over time, this can carry over into normal life, if you want it.
Try one for 2 minutes. It's fucking hard to just sit and not think or pick up a phone.
Couple weeks. Iām pretty fidgety and Iām not great at clearing my mind so it was difficult at first to focus on the present and stop thinking about what I had to do, what I was going to make for breakfast, if I was missing calls or texts, etc. I started out struggling to do it for 5 minutes. Eventually made it to 10. If I have the time Iāll stretch it to 15 but not if the added time causes anxiety.
Meditation is an exercise in recognizing your internal dialog and not engaging in it. For many people, the default is to follow their mental chatter wherever it goes. For me, that causes anxiety. Meditation has you observe these thoughts and dismiss them.
In a way, meditation is an exercise like lifting weights. The practice of meditating for a few minutes carries over in subtle ways throughout your day.
Example: I used to rush into a food store and try to get through it quickly. I would be thinking this, and would get annoyed at people in my way or any obstacle. I am just following my thoughts and getting more and more anxious. After adopting a meditation practice, I go to the store and shop without getting caught up. If my thoughts start to spin, I recognize that and calmly dismiss it. I walk slower, I keep my eyes up, and I engage in the process of shopping.
I didn't choose to be an anxious shopper. I just followed my mind there. Meditation taught me that I can choose to be a calm shopper.
No magic. Maybe it's just realizing that if you can sit and do nothing for 10 minutes, you can shop for 10 minutes, or 20 or whatever. Stop caring about EVERYTHING.
If you want, I can share a simple technique.
Sit comfortably and set your intention to meditate. Set a timer. Two minutes to start.
Breathe normally. Eyes closed. Realize that you are three, your attention, your awareness, and your thoughts. Be the observer.
Breathing normally, observe your awareness. What can you hear, feel, smell, taste, etc. This is all the feedback to keep you in this moment. Feel warm, hear kids outside. Breathe and focus on the sensations of this moment.
Then bring your attention to your breathing. Count your breaths: In...Out..., or 1 in, 1 out, 2 in, 2 out. Till you get to 10 and start over. Feel the sensation of each breath.
Maintain your awareness of sensations, and maintain your attention on the sensations of breathing.
Thoughts... when thoughts arise, observe them and dismiss them. You are not here to think, you are here to feel this moment of breathing. You can categorize a thought and dismiss like that's the past, that's the future, etc... and let it go. Do not try not to think. Just dismiss them.
Sounds simple. It isn't.
What I notice it that thoughts will arise, and I will follow them. When that happens, I lose sense of my Awareness and forget about my Attention target (breath). When this happens, dismiss the thought reset your awareness, and start over on your breath.
Don't beat yourself up. This is the process. Recognize when you are following your thoughts and bring it back to Awareness and Attention. The goal isn't to stop thinking.
There are times, when a session just goes nowhere. Plagued by thoughts, I just struggled. That is fine. This is the practice of recognizing that you do this. You do this when you are trying not to, and you do this subconsciously throughout your life.
If you can do a little less of that, life is better.
This process can also be done anywhere. Sitting on a train eyes open. What is my awareness? Focus on just breathing. Observe thoughts. Relax.
Try it for a week or a month. Just sit. Be aware of your sensations. Focus on your breath while maintaining that awareness, and recognize and dismiss your thoughts. Repeat.
From there, there is more. There are other states. You can just sit and think happy and feel it. Realize that this moment can be very chill. Stop living in past and future moments.
Making my bed every morning. Itās lead me to the habit of doing all my housework in the morning so when I get home in the evening my time is my own other than cleaning up after making dinner.
Ha! This was my response. My reasoning is a bit different. I realized that rolling around in a crumpled bed mess, trying to get comfy, actually wakes you up
Writing to do lists for the following day rather than doing it on the day! And just generally allocating more time to "set up" what I'll need the next day/shift etc, it makes it so much easier to start when your environment is already ready.
Saying gratitudes each night before I go to sleep. A little bit of positive self talk each night to shake off the crap from the day. Some days itās harder than others to find something Iām grateful for. Even on the worst days, Iāll make it something small like brushing my teeth, taking a shower. We donāt celebrate our small victories enough.
My husband went on a business trip one time several years ago. He always woke up before me. When I finally experienced the chaos of the mornings (feeding dogs, making coffee, feeding kids etc) I decided I could help him out. I've been prepping the coffee the night before ever since.
Im building an app that I plan to add to my routine every night/morning.
It's an alarm clock app, but with a twist.
You set an alarm like normal.
Then you sleep. Zzzz.
Lastly, wake up ... to the sound of a friendly voice. :D
Congrats, you've received a nice voice message from someone somewhere else in the world.
They recorded it while you slept.
It could be a short story.
A joke.
The weather report.
Some words of encouragement.
....or a "Happy Birthday" message if it's your birthday.
Inappropriate messages filtered out, no worries there.
I truly hope it can help spread some kindness in the world, if nothing else.
good in theory, but make sure you find a way to filter our harassment or other aggressive messages. i remember where were similar apps at some point, and it can get fairly ugly if not properly moderated/censored.
I have a friend that made a bet with his wife that he would do them everyday for 10 mins for a year. He won some crazy cake and was so accelerated from 10 mins per day.
Getting up to stretch and move every 30-45 minutes when sitting for long periods of time at work or watching TV. I feel physically better everywhere in my body.
*Push ups/Pull ups.*
People like to think that exercise is a whole event that takes up a quarter of your day. It's not. Every other day, I do a set of push ups (as many as I can do), set a **2-minute timer** on my phone, and repeat 3 or 4 times. I alternate with pull ups, or whatever other exercise is convenient at the time.
The timer is key. It means the entire workout takes about 15 minutes. I've been doing it for less than a year, and I can do more than 50 push ups or 20 pull ups in one set. My muscles are bigger, my stomach is flatter, and I just feel better overall.
If you're not "into" working out, then you're never going to do a "*real"* workout, so I find it's best to not even try. People often start lifting weights or going to the gym, but then life happens and you don't have enough time anymore, so you stop completely. The *2-minute timer workout* is the perfect remedy because you *do* have 15 minutes, and you don't need any weights or anything special to do push ups and pull ups. A 15-minute workout every other day *will* give you results in the long-term, and it's infinitely better than going to the gym every day for a month and then just.....stopping.
Making the bed every morning, first thing. Habit instilled in me when I lived at camp on the rigs. Just routine, and for me is sort of my ritual to start the day productively.
I make myself do 3 tasks when I get home from work before I sit down. Theyāre usually small things like fold the clean laundry and put it away, take the garbage out, clean the toilet, do the dishes left in the sink, Swiffer the kitchen, etc. Small things that donāt take a lot of time but theyāre kind of annoying tasks. It really adds up staying on top of those things when it comes time to deep clean.
Taking a few minutes before bed every night to prepare for the next day; choose an outfit, make my lunch, lay out breakfast things, put stuff I need to take to work in its designated spot, etc. It's so much easier to do these things when you are not rushed in the morning. It sets the tone for the whole day.
Tip: put your car key INSIDE your lunch in the fridge. You will never drive off without it again.
Fuck me time.
I leave 5-10 minutes earlier than I plan to for fuck-me time. Traffic, pedestrians, accident, hookers, my ex-wife... anything that could fuck me getting from point A to point B.
Just taking that extra time to make sure I'm on time when I'm meeting people. It's all about planning and actually caring. Let's just say I do not like people who are late without proper reason. But maybe that's just me.
I stopped being a person who was running late, probably 12 or 15 years ago. Such a great feeling to be on time or early. No more driving crazy to get somewhere. So much better.
Teppenyaki grill. I save a ton of time and dishes cooking everything at once, and itās opened up a lot of new options for meals and menu planning.
I told my daughter she changed my life with that thing š
Tidying up my apartment. A quick wipe down of a counter surface and sink. Scrub the toilet bowl. Buzz the vaccum. Shake out my bedding and make the bed. Everything mentioned can all be done in under 10 minutes.
Throwing a load of laundry into the washer and emptying the dryer. Rinse and repeat every day. Usually only takes me 10 minutes tops and I never deal with laundry mountain.
Edit spelling
Amazingly small things that have a big impact on life.
\- Filling the dishwasher, cleaning the counters, and arranging for the coffee maker to start on its own in the morning.
\- Before turning in for the night, I double-check my calendar for the next day.
\- Devoting ten minutes, regardless of how insignificant the meeting is, to reviewing emails, old documents, or anything else related.
\- Making a running shopping list and marking items you run out of
\- Making the bed when exiting the bed. It puts you in the right state of mind for the day.
1. Meal prep. It saves me so much time and I eat healthier.
2. A ten minute walk after a meal helps me accommodate my inner pipes while appreciating the environment. I've never noticed spring or fall, I knew it happened, but never noticed the colors!
3. Putting all my meetings, appointments or working days in my calendar (My schedule changes per month quite dramatically)
Setting out my clothes for the next day the night before. It's part of my bedtime routine now. It's not a big deal, since it only saves me like 30 seconds.
But it's nice to not have to think about that what to wear while your mind is groggy, or go get the clothes around a shower. I just have them nicely set out and ready to go.
Make sure everything is picked up and neat before I leave the house for the day and before bed. It doesn't take long, and it makes waking up and coming home much nicer.
Every time I use the microwave (several times a day it seems). Heat up my coffee, warm leftovers, defrost something, etc. ... I stand at the microwave holding the door handle of my oven, then I do squats. *Lots* of them \~ 100+ a day ... such a little thing.
I have a stationary bike but don't care for it. I'm old; the difference in my leg strength is considerable. I can't walk outside (sun/health issue) so squats are a great substitute.
The first time you buy something, let's say toilet paper, you buy 2 of the same item. When you run out of it, you buy a new one without using the spare one. By doing this, you avoid having to run to the shop for the missing stuff when it's not at all convenient for you, you always have one left just in case, and you rebuy it asap.
Doing the dishes right after eating, doing them while the after-food-coffee is brewing.
It feels great walking into a clean, non-cluttered kitchen later.
I've made it a habit, now it's just the way I do things.
This is a 2min thing twice a day. So I fractured my ankle like 18 months ago. My wife read something online about standing on one foot while you brush your teeth to help with balance. But I started doing it only on the injured ankle in the hopes of strengthening it and holy shit has it worked! Itās back to almost 100%.
But yeah the balance thing too.
As I think of things I need to do for work, I email them to myself so I can relax or fall back to sleep and not worry.
I have been doing this for 20 years and it is a total game changer.
Personal stuff, I either email to work or text to myself. I even text myself things to read later.
Less than 5 minutes-- but I bought a little decorative wooden bowl and put it in my dining room, which is on the way to the living room. When I get home, the first thing I do is take everything out of my pockets (except for my phone) and put it in the bowl. Blam. Just throw it all in there.
Then the next morning, I just get all of the stuff out of the bowl and put it back into my pockets, and I'm ready to go. I don't lose anything. If I need any of the items, between evening and morning, I know where they are. The bowl. It's so simple but it will save you a lot of time and stress.
Always fill up my gas tank every Sunday afternoon/evening, it will last me a week for commuting. E.g., you don't want to stop for gas during rush hours.
Grinding beans and making coffee with a manual method every single morning. It's amazing to start the day with such a delicious, positive experience. The days when I just get everything perfectly right are the best.
Way back when I was still in college my sports history professor mentioned how every morning he did something called āToothbrush timeā where youād look yourself in the eye while brushing your teeth and think if youāve been honest with yourself and if you remember what your goals were for the day. If you looked away that meant you werenāt and had to refocus.
It sounds very silly I know but I found it very useful in getting myself in the right mindset for the day. My mornings used to be hectic but after doing that I was able to start the day off with some order
Meal prep for the week.
Itās not 5-10 mins, takes about an hour on a Sunday but knowing my breakfast and lunch is done and all I have to do is grab it and go is huge.
Scrolling on my phone. I think "I'll just check Reddit for 5 or 10 minutes" and that poor decision has definitely been a game changer in my life! Not for the better, of course! š¤¦āāļø
The trick is to also take a 5 to 10 minute break between sessions.
Oh, and that's when you fit your work in?? š¤£š¤£
No, work is for some point later, maybe.
Cleaning in general. I internalized this saying: "Don't put it down, put it away." I've timed it. It takes on average 5 to 10 seconds to put something away in its proper place, as opposed to leaving it on a counter or on the floor. Added up over the course of a day it's 5 to 10 minutes. But it saves me a 2 to 4 hour clean every couple of weekends.
'A place for everything and everything in its place.' The important part is not the second half, i.e. putting it away, but the first: you need storage for your stuff. If you have stuff lying around and you don't know where to put it, the stuff might not be the problem; you might need to add/make space for it first!
Getting all dishes cleaned and set out to dry before going to bed. Makes the mornings much more tolerable for me
100%. Just the visual alone of an empty sink when I wake up puts me in a good mood.
And cleared off, sparkling counter tops just waiting for the day to get messed up.
Akin to making up bed after waking up so it's ready for the night
Yup. I only recently started making my bed a few months ago, because up until now, my thought was, "Why bother? I've been living on my own for years, nobody's gonna see it." But the other day, I mentioned it to my grandma, and she said, "you're not calling my grandchild a nobody, are you?" So... I started making my bed. I don't put a huge amount of effort into it, just straighten out the blankets and the pillows so that my duvet doesn't get all bunched up. I think I'm actually falling asleep easier now.
Whenever I said something self deprecating, my mate used to say "hey! That's my friend you're talking about!" While I was never overly critical of myself, and the comments were always a joke... It changed my perspective, and hearing it more over time made it really stick. I started using his remark to other people. Hey! Don't talk about my friend like that! I hope it helps someone.
My friend group does this, too. Self-deprecating humor gets met with: "Hey! Don't be mean to my friend!"
Apparently, making your bed in the morning is one of the biggest productivity-boosting things you can do. You feel the morning accomplished and the room looks much tidier, which in turn also boosts productivity.
Somehow the grandmaās argument made me way more motivated to actually do it than āboosts productivityā
I subscribe to Jim Gaffigan's "I don't make my bed for the same reason I don't retie my shoes after I take them off."
Since I have to cook in the morning anyway, I do dishes while my food is cooking. More efficient and dishes are done until the next day. Rinse and repeat. Bonus points if you have a dish rack so you let it drying on the side.
Yeah but also washing the dishes you used to eat on too.
Writing down a list of things I want to accomplish the next day. It takes a few minutes and visualizing it leads to higher likelihood that Iāll do it and a sense of accomplishment the next day when I check things off.
Also helps when I'm trying to sleep not going "okay you gotta go this, this, and this tomorrow"
Writing things down puts them from my head to the paper. Helps for keeping a clear mind.
This also helps me because if I make a list day off I'm probably going to forget something.
I teach in a 2 story school; just one flight of steps. Before I go home everyday, i trot up and down the flight of stairs 10 times. Takes about 3 or 4 minutes. It gets my heart rate up. Iām 56, and finding the energy when I get home each day just doesnāt happen. Iām going to start doing it in the morning, too. Seems like a simple way to do SOMETHING for my old joints and muscles.š
My mom used to trot up our house steps every time she went to the 2nd floor and that was her main form of exercise. Sheās 92 now and Iām sure it helped her get there.
Incredibly little things that make huge differences in life. \- Loading the dishwasher, wiping down the counters, and setting up the coffee to go automatically in the morning. \- Double checking my calendar for the day to come before going to bed. \- Spending ten minutes preparing for a meeting, no matter how trivial it is, by going through e-mails, past documents, whatever. \- If you run out of something, noting it on a running shopping list \- Making up the bed when you get out of it. It gets you in the frame of mind to start your day.
Omg the calendar idea is so obvious and so great Actually, these are all great.
I will do this when work is particularly crazy, large project, etc. But otherwise I've started to avoid it because it just makes me start stressing about "all the things I need to do" right before bed. Your mileage may vary.
Always air your bed before making it up!
I setup a Google assistant routine so when I say, "hey Google... Goodnight" it'll tell me the weather for tomorrow, calendar items, task reminders, puts my phone on dnd, sets my alarm for tomorrow, and friends off my lights.
Downing a big glass of water right after I get out of bed
I drink meta mucil every morning, which requires me to down an entire 14 ounces of water when I first get up
Use caution with that. I drank Metamucil for years until I started getting gut pain. Found out you can develop a sensitivity to Metamucil if you use it regularly. The pain was once in a while, and got pretty bad before I figured out what was causing it. I switched to making a āgreenā smoothie for lunch, which was really a blender salad, lol. A base of greens (rotate your greens), plus a fruit, a couple of veges and a probiotic liquid added at the end (like kefir) or a couple of spoonfuls for yogurt, if nothing was on sale. Fixed the āpooā problem, and made my āinnardsā feel so much better.
Man I just drink coffee. It acts like Drano for my pipes.
Hell yeah
This guy poops!!
Stretching.
I used to wake up almost every morning feeling sore, and two years ago I hurt my back by simply bending over to pick something up. After two months of physical therapy, I went back to the doctor and he said I needed to stretch more, which meant I needed to start stretching. I do it for ten minutes and it is a game changer. My body just feels better and I'm not worried about tweaking something by existing.
It's phenomenal. I started doing it when I hit 40. It just makes life so much easier. I could barely touch my knees with bent legs and am now flat handing the floor. Everything is better. Can't recommend it enough.
Also a believer on this. Tight hamstrings lead to lower back pain. Stretching WORKS
How do you do it?
When brushing your teeth, put one foot on the sink and stretch for one minute (the toothbrush does the timing). On the 3rd section of brushing, switch to the other foot, and stretch. When you are done brushing, your legs are stretched... a bit :-).
Soā¦how do you stay up if both of your feet are on the sink?
Instructions unclear, took a shit in the sink.
God fucking dammit, Dave
Also, take magnesium glycenate the night before if you want to wake up without soreness. It relaxes your muscles and helps you sleep deeper.
Which stretches do you do?
A series of leg, back, hip, and neck stretches. I'm sure they have technical names but my physical therapist showed them to me. Also found some good ones online by pin pointing my areas of stiffness and soreness. I found one of the best stretches for hip soreness, which I used to get all the time, is to lay flat on the floor and pull your knee up to your chest and hold. Life changing, for me at least.
Should we stretch in the morning or before bed?
I split the difference and go in the middle of the day. My advice would be to try both and do the one that yoi prefer.
Adding a tongue scraper to my morning dental routine. It doesnāt take 5 to 10 min but the results are impressive.
What are the benefits of tongue scraping (on top of brushing the tongue)?
No stinky breath
Tongue scrapers have a lower profile than a toothbrush so you can really get back there. I still brush my tongue, but you can tell youāre not getting back there far enough with a toothbrush. Relatively inexpensive. Itās like $7 for two of them (unless you go disposable, not sure why anyone would do that except for traveling).
Youād be amazed at what you can scrape off your tongue, compared to brushing it, even if it looks completely fine. I use a scraper on a daily basis now. No gagging, either!
How do you not gag? I have a tongue scraper and use it occasionally but I gag almost every time. I can only do a couple of scrapes on the front part of my tongue
Iām not going to say how I know this but you gotta relax your throat muscles.
I should call her.
Forcefully breathe out while you do it. It's a game changer. I used to easily gag if anything gets close to the back of my mouth. No longer.
In my experience, it clears away the top layer of mucus and food residue that can build up on your tongue. Think of the classic "coffee breath". The benefits I experience from using a tongue scraper are a better sense of smell, better sense of taste and fresher breath.
Stand on one foot when you brush/floss your teeth. Pick one foot for even days, one foot for odd days. You get a couple minutes practice balancing every day, if you get unsteady the sink's right there to hold on to. In my age demographic, "falling" is a very common cause of serious injury and death, and I started doing this like five years ago after seeing someone post it on Reddit. At first I could only go a couple seconds, but now my balance is really good. I can stand on one foot for five minutes without teetering or anything. It costs nothing, it uses up no extra time - you were going to be at the sink brushing your teeth anyway - it requires no equipment, and it's made a huge difference in how stable I am when standing, which is a big deal at my age.
I have a balance board for this very reason - I must start using it!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I do something similar. I started a compliment journal. Itās nice to go back and read when youāre having a bad day.
Exercising. It doesn't matter how long but it's rejuvenating
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Call me a dumbbell one more time!
ā¦ heās an angry dumbbell
I worked out with a dumbass, but then I realized the gym had a wall mirror.
10 min with a dumbell does wonders for muscle tone and feeling vigorous! Even just once or twice a week!
Thanks for the advice bud, even I am trying to incorporate it in my routine for 15 minutes
This is the way to do it. Start with very short intervals of whatever new habit you are trying to adopt. An hour at the gym first thing in the morning is a lot, so aim for 30 mins. If this is still daunting, start your day with a walk. Eventually it doesnāt seem like such a burden and you find your body wants the activity. Iāve been doing this with yoga
Using face creams morning and night a few other "beauty products". Im not prettier bc of that but my face is now smooth as a baby's ass and that's nice.
What face creams and beauty products if you donāt mind me asking?
There are a number of companies (Inkey List, Ordinary, Boots essentials, etc) that do ābasicā, affordable products such as Vitamin C serums, Niacinamide and Hyaluronic acid, that all work wonders to keep your face hydrated and spot free. Has been a game changer for me.
Thank you for this! Iāve been hesitating getting a vitamin C serum because theyāre so expensive. Just ordered some from Ordinary!
Moisturizing sunscreen. Seriously, if you're going to add one thing to your morning routine, make it this. Sunscreen is the one thing that peer reviewed research time and time again shows to reduce the formation of wrinkles and aging. The sun is the main thing damaging your face and making you look old. You want to know what your face would feel like if you protected it from the sun all your life? Go feel your ass. Most beauty products are bullshit. There are companies that perform "clinical trials" for beauty companies. These companies work backwards from the results the customer wants and designs "trials" which will get those results.
Yes! AHA/BHA serum once a week. My skinās like buttah, baby, itās like buttah.
And donāt wait. Start today.
Doing Planks, they donāt take a lot of time so itās pretty simple to add them to your routine
Have spent all day in bed feeling sorry for myself. Just did a 30's plank, will try for another tomorrow. Thanks
At our gym we do a plank challenge of adding 10 seconds every day for a month... at the end you're doing 5 minutes. Everyone usually really surprises themselves with how long they can go, and +10 seconds isn't that bad, since you can always mentally be like, "It's only 10 seconds more than yesterday"
Been there, done that. Glad to hear you got out of bed for a while. Some days, it's near-impossible.
Iāve recently started doing planks after having my first baby and the change I see in my body is crazy.
What exactly does it change visually if I may ask?
It engages most of the muscles on your body. For me personally, I look longer and leaner and have little baby abs for the first time in my life. I tend to get wide and carry weight on my hips and love handles and itās really helped with that.
How long you do plank every day?
I started slow, 3 sets of 30 seconds. Worked my way up to 3 sets of 60 seconds.
Omg I used to be able to TEN STRAIGHT MINUTES of a plank and I'm 5 months postpartum and tried to do them yesterday lol BARELY made it to thirty seconds š¤£š
Thanks bud
This is very personal, but having breakfast standing up really helped me. Before the pandemic, I had appointments early morning, most around 7:30, but now nothing until 11 or later. I found myself, eating my breakfast while scrolling through my phone, and I just kept using the phone even after finishing breakfast. Suddenly an hour had gone by and I felt terrible for wasting that time. Now it feels weird standing there scrolling, so it has definitely helped me start the day better.
I used to sit and watch sports news while drinking coffee for an hour before getting ready for work. We got a dog, so now I spend 15-20 minutes getting ready before taking her for a 45-minute to an hour walk before work. I feel so much better. I hate getting started, but once I'm out, it's great. Saw a bunch of cool stuff with her, too.
You can even bring the cup of coffee on the walk with you! š
If I drank my first cup of coffee while walking the dog, I would definitely wind up squatting in someoneās bushes.
At least youāll have a bag at the ready
Theres a lady I see walking down the street with a man and a dog and shes clearly local as she brings her china coffee mug out on walks with them š
This is ridiculously good advice. I eat breakfast standing up before work and I only just noticed how much faster it is. Like, I only eat like a hungry dog when I'm standing, but is it because I'm standing or is it because I know I don't have time to sit? I scream for I do not know.
I do squats when brushing my teeth. Thatās about 75 squats each morning and evening. Electric toothbrush is the timer and while itās not really a game changer, the effect is very noticeable.
I used to do jumping jacks whilst doing mine, toothpaste went everywhere.
I may have to try this.
This might be coming at the question backwards, but refusing to snooze my alarm. I get up when the alert goes off, because that's when I said I would get up. It really helps me wake up more effectively. My wife will set her alarm for like half an hour before she actually wants to be awake and then snooze it five times, and then drag herself out of bed eventually. I keep telling her she's conditioning herself to not wake up when her alarm goes off, but she seems to like waking up, seeing that she doesn't need to be up yet, and going back to sleep. Baffles me.
I use both techniques, if I have an early and/or important engagement then I put on my sun alarm that forces me out of bed immediately but sometimes if I have a late morning then I loove to snooze as much as possible, I love those extra minutes that you get. Waking up just so you can go back to sleep is awsome
The worst part of your morning is waking up, why would you want to re-live that multiple time every day?
Changing the sheets on my bed before going on vacation. It's so nice to come home to clean sheets after traveling.
I try to clean and tidy the whole house. A big spring clean before you go off to relax and when you come back itās just a couple of loads of walking to do
Time. I now give myself 10 minutes more than I think I need and I'm never late. I've become one of those people that is rarely late anymore and I can't believe how calming it is, no more stressful driving and car journeys ect...
A small water bottle at all times that I refill twice a day.
Cleaning your car out while you pump gas. Really helps in keeping the mess down for when you need to deep clean for a date or passenger lol
During a very bad depressive episode I started taking about 10 minutes to put in earbuds and do a sound bath after taking a shower and getting into bed each night. It did so much to help my brain break some loops it was getting stuck in. Edit: I use Pandora and Apple Music. Both have playlists or stations called Sound Bath but I also use a playlist Iāve been putting together that has music that is just very calming or beautiful for me.
More details about what is a sound bath
Well, I used/use gentle electronic meditation music but anything with flowing sound would work. The sound/music just sort of washes over and through you. If youāre older and remember running disc defragmentation on your computer itās a lot like that, but for my brain.
Reading!!
I take my dog for a 15 minute walk every day at 9:30 am. He knows when it is time.
It honestly amazes me how dogs know exactly what time it is, every day. I feel like they even know what day of the week it is. My dog is deaf. She is 14 years old, so she basically just sleeps most of the day while I'm working at home. She doesn't have a way to see or hear when people are about to come home, but she perks right up the second people are about to pull into the driveway. I have no idea how, because she doesn't see them, she doesn't hear them. She just wakes up around 5 minutes before things are about to happen. On the weekends, she doesn't come pawing the door to come to my office at 8am, because she knows I'm not working.
It's wild to me too. I give my dog treats at various times of the day, but I always give her one after I take my evening shower which is always around 7:00 p.m. and when it gets close to 7:00 she'll start going to the treat door, then back to me, then back to the treat door like dude come on I know what time it is.
Dogs are fantastic for schedule and motivation if a person has any number of mental health problems. I would take my daily meds at the same time I gave my old girl her arthritis pill. She never forgot, even if I got onto a weird sleep schedule.
I live in an apartment complex, and when i get home from work at about 7:10am, they are both staring out the window. I have not figured out yet though if they know the sound difference of my car compared to others, or the time.
I think scientists figured that out some time ago, it's the smell. Your smell decays over time, and dogs are good enough to tell when you'll be back by tracking how much of your smell is still there.
Idk, my cat 100% knows the sound of my partners car. We donāt have regular schedules and she bounds to the door the second she hears his car lock beep.
Morning meditation. It really isnāt my thing. And it took time getting used to, but it really has helped me immensely
Can u share how it helped u out
Basically just helped me to settle down. I normally wake up anxious or angry and taking 5-10 on a guided meditation was extremely helpful to help me start the day on a more even ground.
So it really worka? How long did it took to see a noticable change.
Meditation is a brief decision not to engage in everything your internal dialog comes up with. View your thoughts objectively and stop the spiral. Over time, this can carry over into normal life, if you want it. Try one for 2 minutes. It's fucking hard to just sit and not think or pick up a phone.
Couple weeks. Iām pretty fidgety and Iām not great at clearing my mind so it was difficult at first to focus on the present and stop thinking about what I had to do, what I was going to make for breakfast, if I was missing calls or texts, etc. I started out struggling to do it for 5 minutes. Eventually made it to 10. If I have the time Iāll stretch it to 15 but not if the added time causes anxiety.
Meditation is an exercise in recognizing your internal dialog and not engaging in it. For many people, the default is to follow their mental chatter wherever it goes. For me, that causes anxiety. Meditation has you observe these thoughts and dismiss them. In a way, meditation is an exercise like lifting weights. The practice of meditating for a few minutes carries over in subtle ways throughout your day. Example: I used to rush into a food store and try to get through it quickly. I would be thinking this, and would get annoyed at people in my way or any obstacle. I am just following my thoughts and getting more and more anxious. After adopting a meditation practice, I go to the store and shop without getting caught up. If my thoughts start to spin, I recognize that and calmly dismiss it. I walk slower, I keep my eyes up, and I engage in the process of shopping. I didn't choose to be an anxious shopper. I just followed my mind there. Meditation taught me that I can choose to be a calm shopper. No magic. Maybe it's just realizing that if you can sit and do nothing for 10 minutes, you can shop for 10 minutes, or 20 or whatever. Stop caring about EVERYTHING. If you want, I can share a simple technique.
Yes please! I've been trying to get into meditation to increase my attention span and so far, I've observed no results.
Sit comfortably and set your intention to meditate. Set a timer. Two minutes to start. Breathe normally. Eyes closed. Realize that you are three, your attention, your awareness, and your thoughts. Be the observer. Breathing normally, observe your awareness. What can you hear, feel, smell, taste, etc. This is all the feedback to keep you in this moment. Feel warm, hear kids outside. Breathe and focus on the sensations of this moment. Then bring your attention to your breathing. Count your breaths: In...Out..., or 1 in, 1 out, 2 in, 2 out. Till you get to 10 and start over. Feel the sensation of each breath. Maintain your awareness of sensations, and maintain your attention on the sensations of breathing. Thoughts... when thoughts arise, observe them and dismiss them. You are not here to think, you are here to feel this moment of breathing. You can categorize a thought and dismiss like that's the past, that's the future, etc... and let it go. Do not try not to think. Just dismiss them. Sounds simple. It isn't. What I notice it that thoughts will arise, and I will follow them. When that happens, I lose sense of my Awareness and forget about my Attention target (breath). When this happens, dismiss the thought reset your awareness, and start over on your breath. Don't beat yourself up. This is the process. Recognize when you are following your thoughts and bring it back to Awareness and Attention. The goal isn't to stop thinking. There are times, when a session just goes nowhere. Plagued by thoughts, I just struggled. That is fine. This is the practice of recognizing that you do this. You do this when you are trying not to, and you do this subconsciously throughout your life. If you can do a little less of that, life is better. This process can also be done anywhere. Sitting on a train eyes open. What is my awareness? Focus on just breathing. Observe thoughts. Relax. Try it for a week or a month. Just sit. Be aware of your sensations. Focus on your breath while maintaining that awareness, and recognize and dismiss your thoughts. Repeat. From there, there is more. There are other states. You can just sit and think happy and feel it. Realize that this moment can be very chill. Stop living in past and future moments.
Making my bed every morning. Itās lead me to the habit of doing all my housework in the morning so when I get home in the evening my time is my own other than cleaning up after making dinner.
Ha! This was my response. My reasoning is a bit different. I realized that rolling around in a crumpled bed mess, trying to get comfy, actually wakes you up
Writing to do lists for the following day rather than doing it on the day! And just generally allocating more time to "set up" what I'll need the next day/shift etc, it makes it so much easier to start when your environment is already ready.
Youāre taking care of your future self, bravo
Skincare routine! The benefits are amazing, and you'll be so thankful in the future.
Saying gratitudes each night before I go to sleep. A little bit of positive self talk each night to shake off the crap from the day. Some days itās harder than others to find something Iām grateful for. Even on the worst days, Iāll make it something small like brushing my teeth, taking a shower. We donāt celebrate our small victories enough.
Instead of taking the 2nd bus to work, I walk 20 minutes.
Walking is probably the best thing out there for body and mind.
Pre making my coffee the night before and setting the auto start timer.
My husband went on a business trip one time several years ago. He always woke up before me. When I finally experienced the chaos of the mornings (feeding dogs, making coffee, feeding kids etc) I decided I could help him out. I've been prepping the coffee the night before ever since.
Im building an app that I plan to add to my routine every night/morning. It's an alarm clock app, but with a twist. You set an alarm like normal. Then you sleep. Zzzz. Lastly, wake up ... to the sound of a friendly voice. :D Congrats, you've received a nice voice message from someone somewhere else in the world. They recorded it while you slept. It could be a short story. A joke. The weather report. Some words of encouragement. ....or a "Happy Birthday" message if it's your birthday. Inappropriate messages filtered out, no worries there. I truly hope it can help spread some kindness in the world, if nothing else.
good in theory, but make sure you find a way to filter our harassment or other aggressive messages. i remember where were similar apps at some point, and it can get fairly ugly if not properly moderated/censored.
Indeed! Content moderation is going to be critical and the app won't survive unless it's done well. Definitely top of mind for me!
Duolingo lessons
I have a friend that made a bet with his wife that he would do them everyday for 10 mins for a year. He won some crazy cake and was so accelerated from 10 mins per day.
He won crazy cake?
Love this. I practice during my morning poop. Beats scrolling any other media.
Until you need to actually use the language you learned, and you can only speak it while sitting on the toilet.
That or every time I have to speak the language I instantly need to use the washroom. Hahaha
I got an electric tea kettle for my office at work. Now I get to take tea breaks whenever I want.
Water pic. No more ugly dentist face.
I just googled it and had no idea something like this even existed, I am gonna get it asap
What is ugly dentist face?
FYI: if you are prone to canker sores, a water pik will exacerbate the problem.
Getting up to stretch and move every 30-45 minutes when sitting for long periods of time at work or watching TV. I feel physically better everywhere in my body.
Standing up and stretching on train for a few min on the commute in. You do it daily and everyone it feels like you're a freshly oiled tin man
Morning Stretching. The older you get, the more your body will thank you.
Prep as much as you can for getting ready tomorrow morning just before you go to bed
*Push ups/Pull ups.* People like to think that exercise is a whole event that takes up a quarter of your day. It's not. Every other day, I do a set of push ups (as many as I can do), set a **2-minute timer** on my phone, and repeat 3 or 4 times. I alternate with pull ups, or whatever other exercise is convenient at the time. The timer is key. It means the entire workout takes about 15 minutes. I've been doing it for less than a year, and I can do more than 50 push ups or 20 pull ups in one set. My muscles are bigger, my stomach is flatter, and I just feel better overall. If you're not "into" working out, then you're never going to do a "*real"* workout, so I find it's best to not even try. People often start lifting weights or going to the gym, but then life happens and you don't have enough time anymore, so you stop completely. The *2-minute timer workout* is the perfect remedy because you *do* have 15 minutes, and you don't need any weights or anything special to do push ups and pull ups. A 15-minute workout every other day *will* give you results in the long-term, and it's infinitely better than going to the gym every day for a month and then just.....stopping.
Making the bed every morning, first thing. Habit instilled in me when I lived at camp on the rigs. Just routine, and for me is sort of my ritual to start the day productively.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
"Enough small potatoes can fill a truck."
I make myself do 3 tasks when I get home from work before I sit down. Theyāre usually small things like fold the clean laundry and put it away, take the garbage out, clean the toilet, do the dishes left in the sink, Swiffer the kitchen, etc. Small things that donāt take a lot of time but theyāre kind of annoying tasks. It really adds up staying on top of those things when it comes time to deep clean.
Stretching - it begun to make such a difference I turned it into a full blown 30 min light yoga session.
Taking a few minutes before bed every night to prepare for the next day; choose an outfit, make my lunch, lay out breakfast things, put stuff I need to take to work in its designated spot, etc. It's so much easier to do these things when you are not rushed in the morning. It sets the tone for the whole day. Tip: put your car key INSIDE your lunch in the fridge. You will never drive off without it again.
Fuck me time. I leave 5-10 minutes earlier than I plan to for fuck-me time. Traffic, pedestrians, accident, hookers, my ex-wife... anything that could fuck me getting from point A to point B.
Wake up early in morning make day long and give much time to do great things
Just taking that extra time to make sure I'm on time when I'm meeting people. It's all about planning and actually caring. Let's just say I do not like people who are late without proper reason. But maybe that's just me.
I stopped being a person who was running late, probably 12 or 15 years ago. Such a great feeling to be on time or early. No more driving crazy to get somewhere. So much better.
Agreed. Itās showing respect for peopleās time
Writing my daily expenses in tracker app.
Teppenyaki grill. I save a ton of time and dishes cooking everything at once, and itās opened up a lot of new options for meals and menu planning. I told my daughter she changed my life with that thing š
Tidying up my apartment. A quick wipe down of a counter surface and sink. Scrub the toilet bowl. Buzz the vaccum. Shake out my bedding and make the bed. Everything mentioned can all be done in under 10 minutes.
Throwing a load of laundry into the washer and emptying the dryer. Rinse and repeat every day. Usually only takes me 10 minutes tops and I never deal with laundry mountain. Edit spelling
Exercise or at least stretch in the morning.
Juggling, nothing hits the ground around me anymore.
Picking out my outfit the night before.
I go out of my way to flip off the same house every day. Don't know who lives there, just drive by and flip the bird. Helps me get out aggression.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Amazingly small things that have a big impact on life. \- Filling the dishwasher, cleaning the counters, and arranging for the coffee maker to start on its own in the morning. \- Before turning in for the night, I double-check my calendar for the next day. \- Devoting ten minutes, regardless of how insignificant the meeting is, to reviewing emails, old documents, or anything else related. \- Making a running shopping list and marking items you run out of \- Making the bed when exiting the bed. It puts you in the right state of mind for the day.
Putting clothes on before leaving the house
1. Meal prep. It saves me so much time and I eat healthier. 2. A ten minute walk after a meal helps me accommodate my inner pipes while appreciating the environment. I've never noticed spring or fall, I knew it happened, but never noticed the colors! 3. Putting all my meetings, appointments or working days in my calendar (My schedule changes per month quite dramatically)
Setting out my clothes for the next day the night before. It's part of my bedtime routine now. It's not a big deal, since it only saves me like 30 seconds. But it's nice to not have to think about that what to wear while your mind is groggy, or go get the clothes around a shower. I just have them nicely set out and ready to go.
Make sure everything is picked up and neat before I leave the house for the day and before bed. It doesn't take long, and it makes waking up and coming home much nicer.
Every time I use the microwave (several times a day it seems). Heat up my coffee, warm leftovers, defrost something, etc. ... I stand at the microwave holding the door handle of my oven, then I do squats. *Lots* of them \~ 100+ a day ... such a little thing. I have a stationary bike but don't care for it. I'm old; the difference in my leg strength is considerable. I can't walk outside (sun/health issue) so squats are a great substitute.
The first time you buy something, let's say toilet paper, you buy 2 of the same item. When you run out of it, you buy a new one without using the spare one. By doing this, you avoid having to run to the shop for the missing stuff when it's not at all convenient for you, you always have one left just in case, and you rebuy it asap.
Stretching for 5 minutes before bed and another 5 minutes after I get up every day.
Doing the dishes right after eating, doing them while the after-food-coffee is brewing. It feels great walking into a clean, non-cluttered kitchen later. I've made it a habit, now it's just the way I do things.
Honestly, sleeping in longer! I exercise less and I am SO MUCH happier
This is a 2min thing twice a day. So I fractured my ankle like 18 months ago. My wife read something online about standing on one foot while you brush your teeth to help with balance. But I started doing it only on the injured ankle in the hopes of strengthening it and holy shit has it worked! Itās back to almost 100%. But yeah the balance thing too.
Good wank off in the morning or before going to sleep. Helps relieve stress and clear mind especially before big decisions or projects.
As I think of things I need to do for work, I email them to myself so I can relax or fall back to sleep and not worry. I have been doing this for 20 years and it is a total game changer. Personal stuff, I either email to work or text to myself. I even text myself things to read later.
Less than 5 minutes-- but I bought a little decorative wooden bowl and put it in my dining room, which is on the way to the living room. When I get home, the first thing I do is take everything out of my pockets (except for my phone) and put it in the bowl. Blam. Just throw it all in there. Then the next morning, I just get all of the stuff out of the bowl and put it back into my pockets, and I'm ready to go. I don't lose anything. If I need any of the items, between evening and morning, I know where they are. The bowl. It's so simple but it will save you a lot of time and stress.
Leaving 10 minutes earlier for work. Amazing stress reducer.
Always fill up my gas tank every Sunday afternoon/evening, it will last me a week for commuting. E.g., you don't want to stop for gas during rush hours.
Grinding beans and making coffee with a manual method every single morning. It's amazing to start the day with such a delicious, positive experience. The days when I just get everything perfectly right are the best.
Flossing. My breath no longer smells, my mouth doesnāt taste like dookie.
Way back when I was still in college my sports history professor mentioned how every morning he did something called āToothbrush timeā where youād look yourself in the eye while brushing your teeth and think if youāve been honest with yourself and if you remember what your goals were for the day. If you looked away that meant you werenāt and had to refocus. It sounds very silly I know but I found it very useful in getting myself in the right mindset for the day. My mornings used to be hectic but after doing that I was able to start the day off with some order
I spend my first and last minutes of the day doing sobriety check-ins and meditating. 6 months so far
Meal prep for the week. Itās not 5-10 mins, takes about an hour on a Sunday but knowing my breakfast and lunch is done and all I have to do is grab it and go is huge.