Switching from measuring productivity to measuring sleep, including nap-taking and night sleeping, has really helped me. I wrote about the sleep part a bit here[0]. I originally started (I think 3 years ago) measuring my satisfaction with how each day went and soon found that "getting all the things done" and all the productivity focus simply wasn't _that_ important to my happiness, contrary to what I had believed in…
> soon found that "getting all the things done" and all the productivity focus simply wasn't _that_ important to my happiness
Then what was important to your happiness? Being well-rested?
Working out. Just body weight workouts. No gym. It improved my golf game. Another is: not buying sodas with my meal. Self-explanatory. Another: Spending brief interludes of time where a compile or unit test is happening to write down what I'm going to do next. It keeps me on task. Another: Incrementally cleaning/organizing my condo. Another: Walking around hardware, furniture, craft stores, Walmart, Target, etc, to s…
Working out! With a 7 minute app. I started in Nov. + People notice the difference. + It's a good way to cope with bad times. + You feel accomplished afterwards. + It's a perfect start of the day. + If you're dating and she is watching, it's a turn on. + You can go on for longer. + It's good for your confidence. + Other people who are working on themselves can be interesting people to meet. + It's good for your healt…
What's a 7 minute app? Only 7 minutes of working out?
Not sure how much its paying off but spending about half an hour every day doing Swedish lessons on Duolingo. No real aim, I don't expect to be able to speak it at all but its more about not being locked into just English. I have some Spanish so that will be next up. I've noticed it makes me feel more accomplished every day at least.
Turn off all notifications on smart-phone, every single notification which pops up, a led blinks, a "notification" appears, if its not emergency from my wife - this has to be blocked. Side effect, no need to check my phone, there is nothing there anymore. Feeds like reddit, HN, email, all settings and username is only on work-laptop with its own instance of browser - browsing these feeds on any other web-browser mean…
How can you turn off all notifications except from one person?
I disabled all social media accounts and now only get notifications when people call or text me.
Incidentally, very few do (siblings, girlfriend, the occasional friend making an appointment).
Scheduling every minute of the next day the previous night. I got this idea from Deep Work and it's, I think, the most valuable piece of advice from the book. It helps me structure the day and not feel like it's wasted at the end before I go to bed.
I had a relapse on this but now I'm back to not drinking it anymore. I'll drink one with pizza but won't stock it ever again. Glass bottles of Pellegrino sparkling water is my replacement.
2. Stopped eating after 8PM entirely.
Never done this before and it's excellent. Lost some weight and I feel better. Chewing Xytol gum when I feel the urge to eat but mostly don't need it.
3. Turned the brightness down on my monitors.
I try to get it closer to the ambient brightness of my room. Much easier on the eyes.
Stop buying stuff. I was a compulsive spender. Never bought on credit mind but I’d blow my entire paycheque after bills on stuff like cameras, hifi, the latest Apple doodad, etc. I literally stopped buying anything not required for my day to day sustenance. No Netflix, started renting what I wanted to watch which forced me to be more picky with my expenditure and time. No more eating out except for special occasions.…
Would like to add "habit of drinking water" to this list. ANY beverage whether its coffee, soda, tea - is easily 4 to 6 dollars and is an entirely made up requirement.
Working out. Just body weight workouts. No gym. It improved my golf game. Another is: not buying sodas with my meal. Self-explanatory. Another: Spending brief interludes of time where a compile or unit test is happening to write down what I'm going to do next. It keeps me on task. Another: Incrementally cleaning/organizing my condo. Another: Walking around hardware, furniture, craft stores, Walmart, Target, etc, to s…
Working out! With a 7 minute app. I started in Nov. + People notice the difference. + It's a good way to cope with bad times. + You feel accomplished afterwards. + It's a perfect start of the day. + If you're dating and she is watching, it's a turn on. + You can go on for longer. + It's good for your confidence. + Other people who are working on themselves can be interesting people to meet. + It's good for your healt…
Aim to do it 3x in a row (~30 minutes). When I started I was barely able to do a single set, then once 1 set was too little I was ramping up intensity more and more (like to 60 pushups per 30 seconds), then added one more run etc. Now I do the first one as a warm up (knees etc.) and second/third run are getting progressively more crazy. It helped me going from nerdy to very athletic in 2 years. Also, combine with up to 100 decline wide pushups for chest improvement; in 2 months you'll see massive improvements. Then of course good diet, sleep, etc. I actually start my day with it; 6am wake up, some drink/hygiene, then 6:15 HIIT with 7-minute workout sets, 6:45 breakfast, 7:00 work (from home), 3pm end of work and fun begins.
Turn off all notifications on smart-phone, every single notification which pops up, a led blinks, a "notification" appears, if its not emergency from my wife - this has to be blocked. Side effect, no need to check my phone, there is nothing there anymore. Feeds like reddit, HN, email, all settings and username is only on work-laptop with its own instance of browser - browsing these feeds on any other web-browser mean…
How can you turn off all notifications except from one person?
If you’re on iOS you can configure specific ring tones & notification sounds for individual contacts. Look under settings.
Working out! With a 7 minute app. I started in Nov. + People notice the difference. + It's a good way to cope with bad times. + You feel accomplished afterwards. + It's a perfect start of the day. + If you're dating and she is watching, it's a turn on. + You can go on for longer. + It's good for your confidence. + Other people who are working on themselves can be interesting people to meet. + It's good for your healt…
What's a 7 minute app? Only 7 minutes of working out?