Ask HN: What are your best life hacks?

2. avoid ever having to be in a queue (of people, cars, callers, etc.) -- well, a blocking one, if it's asynch/callback, so you can do something else in the meantime, that's not so bad

3. avoid paying for things that are free (drinking water, the ability to exercise (I think gym memberships and "exercise machines" are pretty close to throwing money away))

4. don't commit to any deadline or scheduled time/places for things unless there's a strong personal benefit for you

5. take a nap/veg/slackoff whenever your body/brain seems to need it (you'll be healthy, happier and more productive) -- coupled with, whenever you do have the desire and energy to work, work, don't slack off -- this takes judgement but both types of things are needed to achieve balance, but your ups will be higher and your downs won't be as down -- this lifestyle is almost impossible to live if you have your own family and/or a salaried 9-to-6-cubicle-corporate-commute job, but much easier to do as indie contractor/consultant or entrepreneur

I've heard that said about every Capital D Diet Plan. I have a hypothesis about weight loss which is that it's actually simpler than many people make it out to be. Your body basically has inputs and outputs when it comes to food. If you want to lose weight and/or trim up, you need to either decrease how much food goes in, or increase how much your body burns as energy or turns into new/replaced body cells. That's pretty much it. The overwhelming number of people with weight problems (assuming exceptions are folks with genetic disorders) are just people who are eating too much for what they're body is doing, or, doing too little with their body given the amount of food going in. The type/mix of food matters too, but that's also a no brainer -- don't eat junk, but if you do, eat as little as you can and spread it out with healthy/efficient stuff -- and if you do eat more junk, then you better work it off more to compensate.

http://blog.servermonitoringhq.com/posts/the_ultimate_web_ba...

Now I have a doing list. I write down what I am going to do and then I do it. When I finish what I have done, I cross the task off.

This one has served me well a number of times. I'll get stuck with a problem that I'm just banging my head against the wall trying to solve. Then as soon as I walk away (to go home for the night or to drive somewhere or something) I'll come up with a solution.

Since recognizing this pattern I'm pretty good at walking away from problems and letting my subconscious go to work. Can't tell you how many times it's worked.