Travelling on a kayak (Passau-Bratislava in 2012 and Krakow-Gdansk in 2013). Both the memories and the planning for the future trips (Iceland 2014!) give me something to hold on to during the dark moments. Previously I used to travel by bike, but I had stopped that for 3 years before picking up kayaking.
Ask HN: What habit have you dropped or picked up that improved your life?
31–40 of 135 posts
Re: Ask HN: What habit have you dropped or picked up that improved your life?
#32I started waking up at 5.30 in the morning. Code for about an hour and then go for an early morning walk with my spouse for another.
Do you do the same during winter when it isn't light until 8am (depending on where you live of course), or do you push the walk back a bit?
Re: Ask HN: What habit have you dropped or picked up that improved your life?
#33Giving up high sugar foods completely (no soft drink, candy, dessert etc). I went from battling colds year round to almost never getting them.
Re: Ask HN: What habit have you dropped or picked up that improved your life?
#34I stopped using shampoo and conditioner. It's the best fashion advice I've ever had and it's funny that it came from a hn article. Better looking hair, better protection against cold, no more dandruff, much smaller dry scalp patches and so on. Thanks HN!
I started doing this as well. Apparently your hair will eventually clean itself naturally. Shampooing often actually makes it produce oil.
Re: Ask HN: What habit have you dropped or picked up that improved your life?
#35I stopped using shampoo and conditioner. It's the best fashion advice I've ever had and it's funny that it came from a hn article. Better looking hair, better protection against cold, no more dandruff, much smaller dry scalp patches and so on. Thanks HN!
I've been doing the same since one year and a half ago. Works well even with long hair.
Re: Ask HN: What habit have you dropped or picked up that improved your life?
#36soft drinks
Re: Ask HN: What habit have you dropped or picked up that improved your life?
#37Stopped adding sugar to my hot drinks, completely.
I did the same when I found out I am diabetic. Now I can really enjoy taste of tea and black coffee.
Re: Ask HN: What habit have you dropped or picked up that improved your life?
#38(1.) Eat well, drink well, sleep well, work well.
(2.) Quantified self: Targeting productive and unproductive time with RescueTime, and committing to explicit targets with Beeminder.
(3.) Less but better. Less input but better input. Less output but better output. Afford the luxury of being slow and having time for introspection and inspiration.
(4.) When you can't sleep, don't try to.
Re: Ask HN: What habit have you dropped or picked up that improved your life?
#3910K run every day and 10 hours of sleep. The productivity gains are in the 2-3x range.
Agreed, getting into a regular running / cycling / exercise routine has had the biggest positive effect on my life.
10 hours sleep is a bit excessive for me though :)
Re: Ask HN: What habit have you dropped or picked up that improved your life?
#40Reading. I never used to open a book for more than 20 minutes but once I started reading books I actually enjoyed (Gladwell, Freakenomics, other books related to business, personal growth, human behavior etc) I realized what an amazing habit it is. You learn a lot, work your brain, give the eyes a break from a screen and you can take a good book/kindle anywhere. No power needed. Start reading books.