I remember the day I asked Google “how to simplify and slow down.” For some reason this is imprinted in my memory. I was pregnant with our second child and felt the weight of the life I had lived and what lay ahead of me. This was hard. Unbearably hard. And there was a moment when I decided that I would do everything possible to simplify my life.
I'm done with being "crazy busy."
I wanted more time and space. There are fewer things around me and fewer items on my to-do list. More moments of silence. Less “crazy work.”
So gradually I simplified many things and slowed down my pace. And I didn't look back.
About books
1. Boring books don’t need to be read to the end. They won't judge you.
2. Use this rule: subtract your age from 100 - you get the page number up to which it makes sense to read the book in order to understand whether it is worth continuing or not. If you are 35, then give the book a chance until page 65 at most. Save time.
3. Emphasizing “clever thoughts” in a book doesn’t work. The brain receives its dose of dopamine and is even more willing to forget what you emphasized. If you want to remember, rewrite the thought in a separate document, return to it three times: in a day, in a week, in a month. Better yet, tell it to another person. Read more.
4. Reread books. You will be surprised: a) how much you have forgotten or missed; b) how you yourself have changed over time.
5. If you are looking for cool non-fiction in English, check out the Edge Association website.
6. By the way, it is not necessary to read many non-fiction books - find the author’s speech on YouTube on the same topic: this way you will learn the most important things from the book in 40 minutes or less.
About communication
7. Work on communication skills - unlike intelligence, they can be significantly strengthened through practice. Negotiations and public speaking are your chances to hone them. Remember, even the most interesting thoughts will not be heard if you do not learn to convey them.
8. Don’t remember what you need to tell at the meeting - better catch the mood, the idea with which you are going. The words will come up on their own.
9. A few minutes before the meeting, closing your eyes, focus on the sensations in your body. This practice is called noting. Mentally note everything you feel: warmth, heartbeat, “itching,” the touch of clothing. 30 seconds of this meditation will allow you to restore calm and focus.
10. Learn to say no. This will save a lot of time and nerves. Remember that every time you say yes to something, you are saying no to something else.
11. When you want to express a complaint or a negative emotion, use the “I message.” This is a great way to get the point across without slipping into conflict. Read more.
12. Don't be afraid to pause in a conversation when you don't know how to react. Be silent for a few seconds to give the other person a chance to understand what he said. It is possible that he himself will try to correct his phrase.
13. Do not immediately respond to a letter or message that has pissed you off. Write a response, but don't send it. Return to it the next morning.
Only worry when necessary
This will take some practice. If we are not aware of our thoughts, our worries can travel with us throughout the day.
There are ways to be proactive when your thoughts start to unravel, such as setting aside time to worry and worry only. By doing this practice, you will begin to understand how much time and energy is spent worrying about certain things and how repetitive some of these worries can be.
Whether it's 5 minutes or 15 minutes, spend that time solving those problems and leave them there when the time is up.
About health and activity
14. Think not about how many steps you took per day, but about spending as little time as possible in a chair or on a chair. A couple of trips to the gym a week will not compensate for a sedentary lifestyle. Members of the Hadza tribe, distinguished by good health, do not exercise, but they hardly sit in the usual sense.
15. Stand on one leg when brushing your teeth or on other appropriate occasions. This helps to train your balance, thanks to which you will avoid many injuries.
16. Try to try as many different sports as possible - this is the only way to find one that will truly bring you pleasure. And this is the key to regularity. If you don’t know where to start, pay attention to the test by sports psychologist James Gavin - he helps you choose a sport based on your personal characteristics.
17. Take a shower without soap or gel if you just want to cheer up. This will help maintain a healthy skin microbiome, which is important not only for beauty, but also for good immune function.
18. Try actively massaging your head while you wash it: touching the skin affects tactile receptors, which send a signal to the vagus nerve. Less stress hormones are produced, and more happiness hormones. Read more.
19. Spend a few hours photographing the most important medical documents and transfer the test data into one table. Save to the cloud. In an emergency, it will be easier to convey important information to doctors.
20. Take care of your health. If you lack motivation, imagine yourself in old age: do you want to play basketball with your grandchildren or be bedridden? Same thing.
21. Monitor three key health indicators: blood glucose, cholesterol and blood pressure.
22. Don't forget about vaccinations. Remember that the effect of those that were given to you in childhood has already worn off, so a lot of work awaits you, which you need to approach systematically: draw up a vaccination schedule with your therapist.
About other people
23. We underestimate the support that other people can provide. Do you want to get rid of a bad habit? Join a group whose members strive for the same goal. Do you want to reach your goal? Make a promise to a friend or even publicly.
24. When you don’t know how to do this or that job (from renovating an apartment to hiring an important employee), ask someone who has already been through a similar thing. People are amazingly willing to share their experiences.
25. Plan to call or write once a week to someone you haven’t talked to in a while. You will be surprised how many new ideas and opportunities this will bring into your life. Read more.
26. Do you want to make friends with someone, but don’t find a reason to start communicating? Offer him your help or even a joint project.
27. Try to be as open as possible when communicating with someone important to you: sincerity creates sympathy and strengthens the connection. This is a scientific fact.
Improve your relationship
57. Be honest with others (this will help avoid possible conflicts).
58. Treat everyone with respect, not just your loved ones or friends.
59. Treat all people equally - don’t make life difficult for yourself by singling out “best” and “worst”.
60. Trust people.
61. Take people as they are. Don't try to change them.
62. Compare yourself only with yourself in the past, with no one else.
63. Learn to say “no!”
64. Ask your friends what things or household items they need, and try to allocate something from your “arsenal”.
65. Keep phone numbers and addresses in one place.
66. Involve your whole family in this process.
67. Tell your friends what you want to achieve by following all these points.
68. Select some points from the above and offer it to your friend.
69. Make some things yourself, don't buy them.
70. Spend more time with positive people.
71. Apologize quickly.
72. Spend time alone with someone close to you.
73. Go out with your friends and their families, call them, visit them just because.
74. Make the gift you want with your own hands without buying it.
75. Say thank you or write thank you notes to your friends often.
76. Call your friend and just wish him a good day.
77. Avoid judging other people and do not engage in gossip.
78. Let family meals come first, not work.
79. Stay completely disconnected from work on the weekends.
80. Listen to others, and stop talking only about yourself.
About happiness
28. When choosing a gift for yourself or others, give preference not to things, but to impressions. They bring more happiness and their effects last much longer.
29. Talk more often to friendly strangers - sellers, couriers, fellow travelers on a plane or train. While pitch current may seem insignificant, research shows it lifts people's spirits and makes them happier.
30. Before going to bed, remember at least three good things that happened to you during the day. Relive these moments. This way you will double the effect of them and tune in to a positive mood.
31. Spend at least 120 minutes a week in nature. This is exactly what scientists recommend. It is not necessary to spend them in the mountains; a city park will do.
32. Turn any routine activity into meditation: it could be cleaning, waiting for the traffic light to turn green, or taking a shower. The main thing in such moments is to “slow down” and focus on your feelings. Read more.
33. At least sometimes dance like an idiot. We greatly underestimate this type of activity and its impact on happiness.
Set your pace
Every morning we make a conscious decision to set the pace for the day. Think back to a time when you woke up late for work and felt irritable and depressed.
Your actions and reactions play like dominoes that either raise or lower your vibration. A bad day is usually caused by one thing that influences another, and so on.
By choosing your pace intentionally, you can stop, take a step back, and reset at any time. Start your morning by being intentional about how your day will unfold.
About stress
34. Master at least one breathing exercise - it will help you out in a moment of stress or help you warm up in the cold. Finnish biohacker Ilmo Strömberg, who knows a lot about this topic, recommends resonant coherent breathing. Read more.
35. In a stressful situation, talk about yourself in the third person (not out loud). Basketball player LeBron James did this, and psychologists call it linguistic distancing, it helps to cope with emotions. Read more.
36. If trouble or even a great misfortune happens to you, imagine that you have been given a test, the purpose of which is to toughen you and make you stronger. Philosophy professor and popularizer of Stoicism William Irvine advises using this strategy very quickly, otherwise the emotional response will gain momentum and will be unstoppable. Read more.
37. To prevent burnout, balance is necessary in life. The best way to maintain it is to come up with a daily routine that suits you and strictly adhere to it, no matter what happens around you.
38. In order not to succumb to panic in a difficult situation, think through all - even the most terrible - scenarios for its development and your actions if any of them comes true. It is better to do this in writing - this way you activate the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is responsible for planning, decision-making and control of emotions.
About smartphone and social networks
39. Treat gadgets like a toothbrush that you put back after brushing your teeth. Don't twirl them in your hands all the time, waiting for a miracle. All miracles happen in life when we look not at the screen, but at the people next to us. Read more.
40. Open apps on your phone through search: moments while you type can help awaken awareness. This will reduce the risk of being stuck for half an hour, aimlessly scrolling through the feed. Read more.
41. Open browser versions of social networks on your phone. The applications themselves can be deleted.
42. On your computer, use a separate Facebook messenger site. This way you will save yourself from the temptation to read your friend’s feed.
43. Unsubscribe from news channels on telegram and social networks: you will still learn about important news. The unimportant ones (and there are 99% of them) will only distract your attention.
44. Follow trends, not news. Bad things happen in the world very quickly and just as quickly end up in news feeds. But in the long term, a lot of good things are happening: science and societies are developing, the world is becoming a better place, says the main optimist of our time, Steven Pinker. He himself gets his information from futurecrunch.com.
45. Make more active use of the Unfollow function on Facebook - if you become friends with a person, you don’t have to read all his posts. Leave in your feed only those people whom you would like to see visiting you.
About productive work
46. Divide things into “blue” and “red,” as Keri Evans, a New Zealand coach and sports psychologist, advises. The first ones are carried out according to an algorithm, for example: submit documents to the visa center. The second is emotionally difficult, for example: informing an employee about a salary reduction. Add only one “red” task to your daily plan and complete it before lunch. Read more.
47. Set a period of time during which you only work and do nothing else - for example, from 10 to 14. This is called deep work. Read more.
48. For motivation, imagine in as much detail as possible what you will get when you implement your plans. A vivid fantasy affects our psyche almost in the same way as a real experience. Research shows that visualization stimulates the brain to work towards achieving a goal.
49. If you need to work with concentration, turn on the Do not disturb while driving mode. It is on the iPhone, but not everyone knows about it.
50. Check your email and respond to emails only at certain times of the day so as not to become hostage to an endless stream of messages. If someone needs to contact you urgently, they will call you.
51. Turn off images in your browser if you want to achieve maximum concentration. Our brain processes images 15,400 times faster than text (13 milliseconds versus 200 milliseconds). Online advertising and social networks exploit this property to attract us to content that only distracts from the main thing. Try installing the Wizmage Image Hider extension for Chrome. Or enable Reading Mode for all sites in Safari.
52. Buy noise-canceling headphones. They will help you concentrate, even if you haven't turned on the music.
53. Use playlists for work: Brain Work: Classical Music for the Flow (Apple Music), mix from the entrepreneurial community Shmit-16 (Soundcloud), Pure Focus (Spotify), Deep Work from Silicon Valley entrepreneur Karl Tashyan (Apple Music) . An alternative to streaming is a channel with 4 different playlists for background music Deepwork.fm. Or - subscribe to the Endel app.
54. Use Flowstate when you need to quickly write text. In this text editor, you set a timer and write until the time runs out. And if you leave the text unfinished, it will fade and disappear.
55. Come up with something that will put you in a working mood. Especially if you work from home. For example, the founder of Ecwid Ruslan Fazlyev helps to quickly get into the mood for work with a ten-minute morning call with his team.
Time blocks
As an entrepreneur, the luxury of time can sometimes feel more like a curse than a blessing. Set yourself working hours, especially when it comes to completing individual projects.
Blocking out your schedule or setting time frames for completing certain tasks can help you stay on track without being distracted by outside distractions. It's a way of telling your brain when it's time to work and when it's time to relax, and it greatly helps simplify your daily life.
About working with information
56. In order not to lose interesting content, create several secret telegram channels that only you yourself will read. This is more convenient than Saved Messages: channels can be divided into topics and you can add links to articles, photos, thoughts - whatever you want.
57. In any unclear situation, draw a mind map. This will help you structure your knowledge about the problem, and at the same time understand what exactly you don’t know about it yet. Another non-obvious bonus: drawing helps you remember new things, so mind maps should also be used as a mnemonic device.
58. If you really need to remember something, try turning the information into a joke: vivid emotions help to more clearly fix the details in memory.
59. If you have written a long text and want to check whether it is readable and if there are any typos and errors, paste it into Google Translator and listen.
60. Use the Look up function on your iPhone: click on an unfamiliar English word, hold it down - an article from an explanatory dictionary appears.
61. If you prefer to listen rather than read, turn any text into an audio recording using the pocket application: just drop the links you like into it, and then select the appropriate voiceover inside the application.
Avoid excessive media consumption.
Limiting screen time gets you moving. It's easy to get lost in the endless world of news, inboxes and entertainment, but it's all about using your digital information effectively. Make your life easier by managing your inbox and using the two-minute rule.
For example, read your message in your inbox and ask yourself if you need to take action. If an action takes two minutes, do it now. If the action takes more than two minutes, place the message in the specified folder to return to. Simple tricks like these will prevent your inbox from becoming overcrowded.
About investments and savings
62. If you want to increase your monthly income by 50%, then it is better to find a new job or improve your skills rather than play on the stock market. Investing in stocks over the long term returns 6-7% in dollars per year at best. This is a historical fact.
63. Set a date on your calendar and transfer a certain amount to your brokerage account every month. Use this money to buy a standard set of ETFs, creating one of the “lazy” portfolios. Read more.
64. If you want to actively trade stocks and other risky instruments, allocate no more than 10% of your savings for this.
About free time
65. Plan pleasures in advance: the thought that in a week you will have a meeting with friends or the premiere of a film by your favorite director will delight you even before the event itself.
66. When you make plans for a week or more, first of all include time for rest. This will increase the chances that you won't neglect it.
67. Don’t try to see “as much as possible” on your trip. Instead, choose individual points of interest, read about them in advance and hire a local guide to immerse yourself in the context. Example: not all the museums of the city - but the life and works of one local artist.
68. Try searching for the movie you plan to watch in the evening, not by genre, but by the actor or actress you like.
69. Think of the weekend as a full-fledged vacation, plan something interesting and look forward to it. This technique will allow you to rest better, but do not use it too often, otherwise there will be no effect.
70. Go to museums and exhibitions at least a couple of times a year. Scientists have found that those who do this reduce their risk of premature death.
71. If you don’t understand the theater and don’t know which performance to go to, pay attention to the winners of the Golden Mask - this is the Russian theater Oscar.
Make peace with yourself
Accept yourself as you are. Stop trying or wanting to be someone else. Spend time improving your life, not being jealous of others. By giving up comparing yourself and others, such as when browsing social media, you will discover that your life is good enough.
Learn to accept the disappointments that have been in your life as experience and part of it. Try to make sure that everyday little things cannot hurt or upset you. Practice self-love every day - this means taking care of yourself, praising and being grateful for what you have.
About food
72. Eat food, not too much, mostly plants. Famous author Michael Pollan boiled down the rules of food to one line: “Eat food, not too much, mostly plant-based.” By “food” he means real food, not processed products.
73. Eat as little as possible of what is clearly harmful: processed meats and industrial baked goods, as well as foods whose main value is sugar, including juices.
74. Eat more fiber - it is found in whole grains (cereals), vegetables and fruits. Ideally, several dozen different types of fiber per week. This will help you take care of your gut microbiome. A lot depends on it: from immunity to mental health. Read more.
75. Use the Eat The Rainbow rule: your diet should include food of all colors, this gives the necessary variety in food. Green food - for example, from plant leaves - contains the maximum amount of fiber and vitamins per gram of weight.
76. If you have long wanted to record what and how much you eat, but you can’t systematically write down, try photographing every meal. Photos can be stored in an album or sent to your secret telegram chat. The result is a food diary that only takes five minutes a day to keep.
77. Eat more protein to help you feel full and avoid overeating. The feeling of hunger occurs mainly due to a lack of protein. Read more.
78. Eat slowly: the satiety hormone PYY is not released into the blood immediately, so the subjective feeling of fullness usually occurs late - when we already have time to go overboard with calories.
79. To reduce your dependence on black tea and coffee, try hibiscus, cocoa, fiber-rich chicory, buckwheat tea or fireweed. These drinks will help enrich your diet with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory polyphenols.
80. Drink just water more often - this is the healthiest drink for the body.
81. When looking for a recipe, search for the name of the dish and jamie oliver. Jamie has recipes for almost everything, and very good ones.
82. Before preparing a complex dish, understand the principle of the recipe. Write down the sequence of steps on sticky notes and place them at eye level in the kitchen.
83. It is almost impossible to find healthy ready-made sauce in stores. But it’s not difficult to prepare it yourself. Here's nutritionist Michael Mosley's recipe: French mustard, garlic clove, apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, olive oil - ready.
Be adaptable
Changes in schedules and even life plans can happen at any time. The best way to live a simplified life is to first learn to adapt to change and ride those waves as they come.
Being adaptable also means preparing for the unexpected. Start your rainy day fund while you're earning income and pay off that credit card sooner rather than later.
Learn more about the importance of adaptability: Adapting to Change: Why It's Important and How to Do It.
Start incorporating these 13 things into your daily routine and make them your habits. And soon you will live a more simplified life and feel happier.
About alcohol
84. There are no harmless alcoholic drinks. But if you can’t do without alcohol, choose natural dry wine: judging by research, this is the lesser of evils.
85. Wash down alcohol with water rather than snack. Advice from clinical pharmacologist Olga Shatalova: two servings of water for one serving of alcohol. This way you can avoid dehydration, plus - with water it is more difficult to exceed “your dose”, because it fills the stomach.
86. If you want to quickly recover after being very drunk, take a cold shower. Sudden cooling is stressful, and with stress, the level of glucose in the blood quickly rises, which you just don’t have enough of right now.
About sleep
87. Get up at about the same time every day, even on weekends. From a biological point of view, Saturday and Sunday do not exist, and a constant schedule is the best means for sound sleep.
88. Try to be outside for at least 30 minutes a day before sunset - sunlight helps produce the sleep hormone melatonin.
89. Reduce mental activity an hour before falling asleep. The brain cannot automatically switch to sleep mode from playing a computer game, watching a video, or arguing on social networks. Read more.
90. Come up with a ritual for going to bed - a sequence of the same calm actions: let a reflex develop for them.
91. Reduce the temperature in the bedroom, ventilate it. Try sleeping in socks, this method works.
92. If you wake up in the middle of the night and are overwhelmed by doubts and anxiety, imagine that these negative emotions are experienced not by you, but by another person. This is not entirely untrue: personality is largely determined by the distribution of hormones and neurotransmitters. For someone who doesn't get enough sleep, their balance is structured differently.
About things
93. Those things that you spend a significant part of your life with (bed = 1/3 of your life, desk chair and desk = 1/4) are worth spending significant money on.
94. Come up with a rule by which you get rid of old things - for example, if you haven’t used them for a year. This will make it easier to throw them away. Read more.
95. Relate a certain object that you often see to something important. The hero of one English-language podcast said that every time he walks through a doorway, he smiles and reminds himself that he is “ready to serve people.” This helps him come to meetings or negotiations with the right attitude.
Get rid of unnecessary things
30. Get rid of television or at least minimize the time spent watching it.
31. Sell or give away household items that you rarely use or don't use at all.
32. Get rid of two things with every new purchase.
33. Lend things to friends and don’t ask them to return them to you if YOU don’t use them.
34. Buy less. And only what is really necessary.
35. Throw away clothes you don't wear or haven't worn in more than 6 months.
36. Give books you read to people who enjoy reading them.
37. Give up some electronic devices and try to live without them.
38. Choose a hobby that doesn't require a lot of material (music, art, writing).
39. Clean out your living space by getting rid of knick-knacks and excessive decorations.
40. Drive “green”, i.e. living a more “green” lifestyle by trying to use less electricity.
41. Choose a smaller house for your home and get rid of unnecessary things that clutter up the space.
42. Get rid of everything that distracts your attention.
43. Set a limit in your email to receive various announcements, advertisements, promotional products, etc.
44. Do not carry credit or payment cards with you. Take some cash just in case.
45. Reduce the number of your cars. Sell one.
46. Free your car from unnecessary things.
47. Imagine that you are changing your place of residence. Get rid of everything you no longer use.
48. Let every thing in your home have its place.
49. Sign, place in boxes, etc. the right things.
50. Clean up your bank accounts and delete unnecessary emails.
51. Throw away everything you don't use. Get rid of this garbage.
52. Give to those who need it.
53. Make time to serve and help others.
54. Green up your home with flowerpots.
55. Grow flowers.
56. Enjoy nature.
