Career, love-life, education, health, wealth, finance, family, marriage, etc all are different dimensions of one's life. And habits are the building block of one's life.<p>What habits have you built for yourself (maybe by rectifying past detrimental habits or building entirely new ones) that have improved your life in many dimensions? If possible describe a bit about what role the habits played in improving your life.
- low-effort persistence: spreading skill acquisition over a long time rather than concentrated attempts. Eg. reading a foreign language tabloid on the bus from home to the office. Made me appreciate small victories and make better use of idle time.<p>- gym: my, rather pragmatic I believe, personality will often rationalise me out of making a concentrated effort. In the gym I step into a robertfrank615-type alter ego which pushes me through the pain of all those sets. The health benefits and the experience of doing something out-of-character improve every aspect of life.<p>- scheduling something fun for Monday: dance classes or debate club on Monday evening is the best way to exorcise those Monday blues.<p>- tolerating difficult people: those hidden gems have nowhere else to turn and become loyal friends and allies.<p>- keeping your enemy close: I keep myself informed on a low level of news from the opposite political spectrum, which helps me map those blind spots.<p>edit: blogging helps me organise my thoughts and compartmentalise knowledge <a href="https://blog.georgovassilis.com/" rel="nofollow">https://blog.georgovassilis.com/</a>
The comments seem to largely reflect "boring stuff that everyone already knows", like exercise. And as annoying as it is, my answer is the same. The habits that have improved my life the most are the normal things everyone keeps telling us about: going to the gym, striving to keep a relatively healthy diet, getting enough sleep.<p>I was fortunate in that working out for me has a more jarring/obvious effect than it does for some people that really kicks my ass into gear. I have really bad knees, and the only thing I've found that consistently allows me to live without knee pain is strengthening my legs[0]. If I stop working out and let my quads get weak, there is a gradual but noticeable decline in my mobility. I can't tie my shoes or walk down stairs without pain, wake up at night with hurting knees, etc. So for me, it's either get to the gym (or run, but I prefer the gym) or live in pain. So I think that's the most noticeable habit that has improved my life.<p>[0] I wrote about my experience with this here: <a href="https://liza.io/how-leg-extensions-saved-my-knees-quick-knock-all-the-wood/" rel="nofollow">https://liza.io/how-leg-extensions-saved-my-knees-quick-knoc...</a>
I've found that people often search for some obscure hacks to make their lifes better, but really the most obvious advice is usually obvious because it's well researched and works. So for me those habits were: get enough sleep, exercise, eat real food, watch your stress levels.
I already posted but here's another one - probably stretching the boundaries of habit a little but anyway:<p>I spent a good chunk of my life refusing to pay for things I could realistically do myself - gardening, minor repair jobs around the house, admin stuff etc. Now a little older and wiser, I look back and realise that the benefits of doing those things are probably minor compared to the stress and pressure they put me under, having to add "build that swing set" or "mow that lawn" or "build that bookcase" to my epic list of stuff to do every week.<p>I've tried to _break_ the habit of automatically going "I could do that, I'm not gonna pay someone else" to looking at how much work something is, and whether it is worth my time to do it or pay someone else to do it, and also try and factor in the unseen costs and the expertise before I decide to take on a project.<p>Sure, I can put together a kids bike. Easy peasy. But if the shop will charge me $10 to put it together, and it'll save me an hour and a bit of stress, it's worth it.
Listen without thinking of what to respond. Especially dating, interviewing, negotiations, public speaking, scolding kids.<p>If it's a really important conversation, get a dedicated note taker because it's hard.<p>Find core pillars of what someone is saying. Someone ranting about tax could be humblebragging, trying to show off their financial expertise, making empty conversation to bond/venting, solving a puzzle, selling a favoured political party, attacking rich people, and so on. Frequently two people are talking about entirely different topics and get frustrated.<p>It leads on to the habit of better note taking. Information is associated, like branches of a tree. If you remember what someone was trying to say, you can easily remember what they actually said.<p>After a while, this results in a photogenic memory effect.
- Go to bed late. Late at night is when I am most creative<p>- Eat what I want. My body knows what it needs.<p>- Never tidy my room. Life is too short for that!
So many "gym" responses giving me the guilts and reminding me that I really should start exercising one of these days<p>my habits:<p>- drink a large glass of water first thing in the morning<p>- skip breakfast - far from being the most important meal in the day I find I have more energy if I don't eat until after 1, and it means I'm fasting for 16+ hours every single day without even trying<p>- I limit my todolist to just three important things. I actually get more done by focussing on three things a day instead of having a giant list of 20 things to get done this week and feeling every day like I've failed.<p>- connected to the above, I make a monthly goal list, and I pull some of the three things from the monthly goals (but there are always unplanned items)<p>- I turn things off at night. saves a tiny amount of power and reduces the risk of fire<p>- I try to reach out to a friend every day. even just an IM. feels like I'm keeping friendships alive that might otherwise have dwindled because we were both too busy. this has resulted in the same friends reaching out to me too, so I think it works
Learning to trust others and understanding my emotions.<p>For me, these were world-altering.<p>I went from barely being able to function in society because I would constantly second guess everything I heard (causing me to deliver projects that were only 70-80% overlap with what was wanted). I had significant trouble with perspective-taking and authenticity, so when I did mess up, it was difficult for others to take my side.<p>The lack of trust and emotional understanding also caused heavy compartmentalization, I had completely different habits/behaviors socially, professionally, and when dating.<p>These two things almost magically (this is how it felt in comparison with grinding for ever achievement I had previously, but it still took work) granted me social skills that I never believed I'd be able to have and to build meaningful relationships with others.<p>I grew up parentified, instrumentally, and emotionally neglected. It was so bad that in HS I believed I didn't have emotions like other people.
Nerd time.<p>Gaming, watching series, movies, reading novels, Lego. All of this helps me stay fresh-minded, sharp, and creative. Me.<p>Another example: exercise/gym? BORING. I got myself a Switch with Ring Fit Adventure. Previously I owned a Wii with the balance board.
Going to the gym even when I don't have energy to do the workout. I don't mean forcing myself to do it anyway, I mean just going there - sometimes doing lighter workout, sometimes doing just light cardio (eg. walking while listening to podcasts), sometimes just going to the sauna, and sometimes just coming to the gym to walk right back.<p>However, most times, I'm more languorous than tired and after a warm-up I do the whole workout.<p>And strength training is great for a) general health b) better mental performance c) looking good d) having more energy.
Amazing what pumping some iron for 30 minutes twice a week can do. There is a sweet spot between sedate and obsessed with fitness.<p>Also buffers! A buffer is a redundancy built in to planning. It is leaving earlier than you need to for example. It is doing something earlier than required to allow for delays. It is having frozen bread for those mornings when you run out of the fresh stuff.<p>Similarly mise en place, or setting things up before you use them. The always packed gym bag for example. Or the key ring holders where your keys always are.
One habit that has somewhat helped me is free-writing. Not for the sake of creating art, but for the sake of just expressing myself. I've been very lethargic for the last couple of years or so - I find it very hard to write things (that aren't HN comments), and my mind gives me a lot of resistance. But setting a timer to 10 minutes, playing ambient noise on headphones, then forcing myself to write down anything that comes to my mind helps me "open up" in a way. There's no "wrong thing" to write - just write whatever your mind wants to write, repeat words, write nonsense, animal onomatopoeias - anything goes, as long as the words flow. Touch typing helps a lot.<p>I feel like I'm very "closed" by default, in terms of my relationship with the world - I see, hear and feel things, but they feel dull, I can't really <i>feel</i> them. I can comprehend them, but it just feels empty, as if the whole world is fake - I listen to music, but it doesn't move me at all; I eat food, but I do it as quickly as possible to finish with the hassle; I watch a TV show but I need to put effort into not turning it off... After a quick session of free-writing, I find it easier to feel. Perhaps it's like a meditation of sorts.
Working in chunks of time with a break in between, in a structured way. I typically do a 50 minute work / 10 minute break cycle, or a 75/15 cycle. It works very well for getting things done efficiently.
It sounds really cheesy (and to be honest, it is a bit cheesy,) but The Miracle Morning[0] is a set of habits…collected into a system by Hal Elrod that have been very beneficial to me. The habits are:<p>* Silence (this could be meditation or prayer if that’s your thing)<p>* Affirmations (this is the one I struggle with the most - it feels the most self-help-guru-esque to me. I implement this as reviewing “what are the things that are important to me, am I doing them, what am I not doing that I should be doing?”<p>* Visualization - visualize how you want your day to go<p>* Exercise<p>* Reading<p>* Scribing - aka keeping a journal.<p>The idea is to do each for ten minutes every morning.<p>0 - <a href="https://miraclemorning.com/" rel="nofollow">https://miraclemorning.com/</a>
I know it sounds stupid, but I've learned to make an effort to be nice to the person at the supermarket checkout. Say hello, ask how their shift is going, pleasant smalltalk.<p>Not only has this forced me out of my anti-social comfort zone[1] and helped me gain confidence when dealing with strangers, it's also turned the whole 'shopping' thing into a less traumatic experience - something I used to think was impossible.<p>[1] - I'm face blind, which makes starting a conversation with strangers a bit fraught as they might not, in fact, be strangers.
Gym is good, running outdoors is better imho. Especially if you can do it on trails in a park / forest.<p>Haven't had much success with fitness, but for some reason I went from not being able to run at all to running half a marathon. Took me a few years (mostly due to lack of motivation) but the fact that I can run for two hours non stop without any specific program / schedule still baffles me and adds great value to my life. I did lose a lot of weight (unrelated to exercise) and just the fact you're dragging around less weight makes running MUCH easier.<p>Go traveling solo without any concrete plans. SEAsia is great: safe, easy, lots to see. Did this a lot between 20-35 years old and they were all very formative experiences. Sitting on the banks of the Mekong talking to random strangers, getting drunk with Laotian youngsters, riding a motorbike around Vietnam ... can't beat that.<p>Regarding relationships - work on it. Read some psychology books on this subject, they will open your eyes. Don't assume the other person's just there to improve your life.<p>Think very carefully about having kids. They're awesome but a lot of focus is on the pregnancy / delivery. After that it's all up to you and there aren't a lot of helpful resources. The first 5 years need A LOT of attention. Kids don't come with a manual and by the time they start moving on their own and talking they'll have taken over your life. And you're responsible for theirs. Get it wrong and you could end up messing up their life. Issues that seem small & insignificant can grow bigger and more complex over the years and before you know it you've transmitted to them the same traumas your parents gave you.
Pay more if it will make the experience significantly better. Oftentimes, paying <i>just a little more</i> will save you tons of headaches and potential problems.<p>As an example: if Flight A is $100 but has a layover of 3 hours, and Flight B is $160 but direct (saving you 4 total travel hours), always go for Flight B. I have chosen A many times, only to be stuck on the runway, standing hours in security, missed my connecting flight, and so on.
Getting up at the same time every day and getting immediately out of bed.<p>I've been doing this since the new year. It has been fantastic for my productivity, and I get to spend more time with my wife without feeling stressed for time.<p>I used to think I was a night person. Turns out: I just had very poor sleep habits and didn't know how to fix them.
- drinking at least 500ml of water immediately after waking up (cannot overstate the importance of this before making any decisions. dehydrated brains make bad decisions)<p>- lifting weights 3x a week (particularly monday/weds/friday, look into "stripped 5x5" for getting started) with light cardio on the other weekdays
Reach out to friends and people you’d like to be closer with regularly. Make and keep plans to do things with people in person. It’s far more important than people realize. Isolation is a killer. Online is no substitute.
Being just your innocent self an having compassion for all your faults, meaning great awareness about them, and those of others. You will easily smile at all times and find lots of meaning in every moment.
Delegating as much stuff that you hate as possible:<p>Hate doing laundry? -> Take your laundry to a laundry shop.<p>Hate cooking? -> Always eat out.<p>Hate cleaning your apartment -> Hire a cleaning service.<p>Hate driving? -> Take Uber or move closer to work.<p>Hate volunteering? -> Donate to charities and volunteer orgs to do that for you!<p>________<p>And at the same time double down on the things you enjoy or/and earns you more money.
Journaling AND systematically reviewing the journals after certain time periods. If you’re only doing the former you’re probably only reaping about 40% of the benefits of journaling.
Investing in fitness (weight lifting, running, eating well) probably has the most impact, but that is fairly obvious. Likewise never reading anything in bed other than long-form books.<p>The one habit the was very surprising to me was daily meditation. I didn't expect to enjoy it, or derive any benefits, but I did.<p>I think any beginner app[1] (or maybe book) and 10-15 minutes a day for a 2-3 months is enough to get the n00b benefits I got, namely:<p>- less reactive to pretty much any kind of negative external whatever, from random assholes to force majeure<p>- almost complete elimination of the feeling of boredom from my life, regardless of circumstance<p>The above two things, in turn, led to improvements in just about all my meaningful relationships.<p>[1]: Specifically, in my case, I read the book <i>Waking Up</i>, by Sam Harris, which caused me to then read <i>Search Inside Yourself</i> by Chade-Meng Tan, and then I ended up getting the Waking Up app to guide me through the daily practice (but I also tried Ten Percent Happier and Headspace and believe any of them would work).