I haven't yet - but I'm planning to ban the smart phone and tablet computer from the bedroom.
Ask HN: What habit have you dropped or picked up that improved your life?
71–80 of 135 posts
Re: Ask HN: What habit have you dropped or picked up that improved your life?
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you do not use shampoo, what do you use to wash your hair? Genuinely interested, I can't live without Head and Shoulders.
Some help here: http://www.reddit.com/r/NoPoo/wiki/index After some weeks, your hair gets used to having no shampoo. I'm doing it since 2 months and all is fine.
So instead you must use baking soda?
Re: Ask HN: What habit have you dropped or picked up that improved your life?
#73Started to practice genuine Shaolin QiGong & Shaolin Kung Fu. Got lucky with the master I found. Been practicing for 7 years, wouldn't trade it for a pile of gold. It just enables me to do everything better. I mean everything. Most of the ordinary day-to-day stuff doesn't bother me so much. I don't waste as much time as before doing useless things.
Also reduced the amount of TV/Internet time; started to eat vegetarian practically every day.
I built this app just for that: https://routinetap.com. I'm working on a pure js version.
Re: Ask HN: What habit have you dropped or picked up that improved your life?
#7410K run every day and 10 hours of sleep. The productivity gains are in the 2-3x range.
Prior to doing this, did you walk 10K every day? Curious about the diff between 10K run vs 10K walk. Personally, weightlifting 3x a week and roughly 10K walking every day does the same thing as running did.
Not the OP, but it probably has the same benefits, but it takes MUCH longer.
Re: Ask HN: What habit have you dropped or picked up that improved your life?
#75Despite having a very long wish list of things I long for to do, I am usually in for redditing, reading HN, sitcoms, booze and weed. I hadn't opened Sublime for past two months, neither read anything nor any activity faintly productive.
After reading an amazing article [1], I have beginning to feel an amazing happiness with everything I am doing now and it just so simple. The trick is to ask yourself every time you start doing something: "What I will be doing now, Will it help me in future in anyway?". Of course, you must not drag yourself to despise everything not related to higher gains but realize that life in the future is function of what you do now, and the decisions you make.
[1]: http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/10/27/procrastination/
Re: Ask HN: What habit have you dropped or picked up that improved your life?
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
funny, I'm having positive results with the inverse of (3)
Maybe you're referring to something like the 80-20 rule, "Pareto principle"? More productivity by abstaining from perfectionism? I just find it much more satisfying to produce small amounts of (what I consider to be) good output rather than large amounts of mediocre output. This isn't appreciated in all contexts, which is why I've called it a luxury.
In some sense, abstaining from perfectionism is the same as producing mediocre output.
I accept the fact that won't ever be mentally at 100% all the time, so I fill my day with many side-projects and can rotate whenever I'm exhausted with one task.
The output quality of each task might not be as high as when I committed myself exclusively to one thing, but overall I learn more and achieve more.
Re: Ask HN: What habit have you dropped or picked up that improved your life?
#771. Going to the gym as the first thing in the morning. 2. Saying "No" more often.
Interesting. I found that going later in the day ( sometime between 10am and 3pm, whenever I take a break) is better for me because I'm most productive/focused in the mornings.
Re: Ask HN: What habit have you dropped or picked up that improved your life?
#78I quit smoke, also, quit eating outside. The improvements were impressive: 1. Better sleep. 2. Better weight control. 3. Skin stopped being dry. 4. Better sex life too. 5. Good energy. I never measure my work productivity.
Eating outside? You mean like eating at restaurants/fast food instead of cooking it yourself?
Re: Ask HN: What habit have you dropped or picked up that improved your life?
#79- No TV (and no news). Stopped watching years ago, spend more time on productive things.
- No video games. I binge and play again for maybe 1 week a year.
- Spend free time with wife, because that's all she really wants.
- Workout 4-5 days a week. Lift early between 10am and 3pm, whenever I reach a good stopping point. Listen to Mixergy or similar podcast during workout. Do cardio in the evening (between 7pm and 10pm) and sit on the bike for 30 min to 1hr and read.
- Sleep 7-9 hrs/night.
- Never set an alarm.
- No alcohol, tobacco, drugs, coffee, or tea. Ever. Might sound crazy, but it's not hard since I just never started.
- Don't blog or use Twitter.
- Cut hair weekly (short haircut, cut it myself), shave almost daily (whenever I go somewhere). A military habit, but when you look good, you feel good.
- Had a few close calls while deployed (was a Marine for 8 yrs) and learned life is too precious and too short to do anything but my best work and left the Marine Corps as soon as I returned from my last deployment. I started making decisions based on what I'd regret the least, regardless of outcome.
Re: Ask HN: What habit have you dropped or picked up that improved your life?
#80Regular exercise.
I did a CS master's degree at night while working a full time job programming. After sitting 9 hours at work, I'd sit a few hours in class and then sit a few hours doing homework. After three years, I was a wreck. As soon as I graduated, a buddy of mine spurred me to join a gym with him.
Now I do heavy lifting 3 times per week and interval training 2-3 times per week. I'm not the healthiest eater (maybe I'll fix that next), but I feel great. There's something indescribably satisfying about breaking your own records.
It doesn't matter which exercise you pick. The benefit you get from doing something over nothing is enormous. The important thing is that you do something that you like enough to stick with. As a non-competitive athlete, I find that fitness is 80% attendance.