Picking up rubbish whenever visible. Home always feels clean without proper cleaning.
Ask HN: Is there a new habit you cultivated recently that is really paying off?
51–60 of 478 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is there a new habit you cultivated recently that is really paying off?
#52Turn 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?
On many android phones there's a "do not disturb" option that can be configured to allow calls and messages from stared contacts and nothing else.
Re: Ask HN: Is there a new habit you cultivated recently that is really paying off?
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
- to be clear: I’ve found it very easy (no experience with android) to very strictly limit who I’m notified by and the personalized notifications really helped.
Re: Ask HN: Is there a new habit you cultivated recently that is really paying off?
#54Not 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.
Oh yes I tried that too but it didn't really pay off for me.
That daily streak really helped me stay at it for almost 340 days straight (French). Unfortunately even after daily practice for almost 1 year I can't say I learned anything much (French is a very difficult language and I'm old so that may have something to do with it and YMMV). But anyway seeing I was making no progress I had to quit.
Re: Ask HN: Is there a new habit you cultivated recently that is really paying off?
#55Yoga. It's the only time in the day where my brain is not in overdrive. Also, as a 36-year old with a sedentary lifestyle it's surprising/horrifying how stiff I've become. I'm just following the beginner movies on youtube and I go to the occasional class, so it's not stressful.
I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. Recently had a conversation about it with another HNer who had some really good tips for me[1]. I'm sure you will benefit too from it!
Re: Ask HN: Is there a new habit you cultivated recently that is really paying off?
#56Recently I read the book - Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy. One of point was to keep a pocket diary where you list all the TODO tasks and keep striking them off as they complete. Helped me in many ways: 1. It is very easy to forget many tasks but by writing them and checking the diary even once in a while, it is possible to be reminded regularly. 2. Its better than mobile TODO apps as I don't need to check mobile phone…
I do something to similar, although using a mobile app (Google Keep), and write down EVERYTHING. For me, probably the biggest benefit of doing so was freeing my brain. I no longer have to worry about naturally remembering things, and it makes my life a lot less stressful. It also provides me more time and brain power to think about what actually matters to me. Nowdays, if a thought pops in my head while I'm laying do…
I have a system in apple notes where I use a separate note for each weekday. It gives me a chance to dump todos in there, without creating an overwhelmingly large list. I also naturally review my progress on neglected items each week.
Also serves me as a basic calendar, eg “see john on Wednesday”.
Re: Ask HN: Is there a new habit you cultivated recently that is really paying off?
#57Switching 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?
Yes, compared to productivity, rest appears to be a much better predictor / indicator of well-being for me. Rest also appears to help me see how much productivity is really necessary, when I would otherwise overshoot.
Re: Ask HN: Is there a new habit you cultivated recently that is really paying off?
#58Read about different kind of biases. When thinking about something controversial, political or maming a decision, try to evaluate the biases affecting your mind.
I feel bias training should be done at colleges or schools especially in this post truth,fake news world.
Re: Ask HN: Is there a new habit you cultivated recently that is really paying off?
#59New Habit: Learn something daily
- Learning French: I finished Duolingo app's course, now experimenting with plugins and more apps to learn French.
- Learning Ukulele: I picked it some 6 months back. Still, a long way to go.
Benefit:
1)When I encounter something difficult to learn, I panic less. I understand the incremental process and the highs and lows of learning a new skill/concept.
2)The fun of learning, knowing things.
New Habit: Read books of domain/genre which I used to avoid Benefit: 1) Interleaving of concepts, I cannot guarantee this happens. Found new ideas which can be used in my work line. For instance, a book on psychology can help you pitch your product better to consumers.
Re: Ask HN: Is there a new habit you cultivated recently that is really paying off?
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Another: Incrementally cleaning/organizing my condo. Please could you explain this a little more? I’m the sort of person who lets the mess build up to a critical mass, and I’d love to have a better system.
That's not a system at all.
Isn't that the typical "garbage collection" strategy? Let it build up and only clear it in bulk?