Posted in: Uncategorized

Sleep, Focus, And Time – Five Boosts 8/30/20

Five Easy Ways to Make Your Life Better for 8/30/20

The Power of Bright-Line Rules

(Rakaelle Price | Medium | 1,050 words)

A bright-line rule is a commitment you make with no wiggle-room.

While gradual improvement might seem easier, in many cases giving yourself a strict rule actually helps you out.

For example, you may decide to spend less time on social media. But that’s vague. How much is “less time?” It creates a lot of decisions, with the potential for rationalization and guilt.

But if you set a rule saying “No social media after 6:00,” you know the right thing to do.

I found this in Nir Eyal’s Nir and Far newsletter.

15 Incredibly Easy Ways to Improve Your Sleep

(Steven Ray Marks | Self Helping Yourself | 1,650 words)
  1. Don’t cut back on sleep to get more done
  2. Wear orange glasses before bed
  3. Get blackout curtains
  4. Wear an eye mask
  5. Spend between $800 and $1,500 on a mattress
  6. Buy the right pillow
  7. Take your own pillow on trips
  8. Don’t take long naps
  9. Take short naps
  10. Don’t use a snooze alarm – ever
  11. Sleep in the right position
  12. Avoid caffeine in the afternoon/evening
  13. Make your bed when you first get up
  14. Don’t weekend-jetlag yourself
  15. Learn your individual chronotype

8 Really Bad Habits (We All Do) That Drain Our Focus)

(Nicolas Cole | The Ladders | 1,450 words)

You’ll be a lot more focused and productive if you stop doing these things:

  1. Constantly checking your phone
  2. Not really listening
  3. Multitasking
  4. Working with the TV on
  5. Working in unproductive environments
  6. Working with unproductive people
  7. Lack of preparation
  8. Using notifications

Why Time Management Won’t Solve Your Time Problem (And Nine Things That Will)

(Becky Kane | Ambition & Balance by Doist | 2,200 words)

Ways to feel less busy:

  1. Identify the values you’re sacrificing to busyness
  2. Accept that you can’t do everything
  3. Do one thing at a time
  4. Invest in aimless acts of creativity
  5. Read a book
  6. Spend time with friends
  7. Give your time away
  8. Spend 15 minutes outdoors
  9. Make space for stillness and solitude

How to Deal With Disappointment: 12 Helpful Steps

(Henrik Edberg | Positivity Blog | 1,950 words | Subscribe)

Sometimes disappointments happen in life. To move forward afterward:

  1. Accept how you feel
  2. Remember you’re not a disappointment
  3. Learn from it
  4. Remember disappointment happens when you leave your comfort zone
  5. Refocus on what you’ve got
  6. Talk it over with someone close
  7. Adjust your expectations
  8. Take a break
  9. Get outside your own head
  10. Find energy and motivation with help from others
  11. Find a small step to start moving forward
  12. Improve your self-esteem

Bonus Boost

Everything You’ve Heard About Dieting is Wrong

(Steven Ray Marks | Self Helping Yourself | 1,050 words)

Diets don’t work because they’re too hard, and you can’t maintain them for life. At best, you’ll temporarily lose weight, but gain it back as soon as you stop the diet.

The right way to lose weight is to use the right strategies to build habits that are easy enough to keep for life.

The most important habit is to think before you eat, make, or buy food, make a rational decision about what and how much to eat, and then celebrate and take pride in your good decisions.

Self Helping Yourself Tweet of the Week

Be sure to follow @YourselfHelping on Twitter.

Enjoy Five Boosts By Self Helping Yourself? Be sure to Subscribe and check out the Self Helping Yourself site.

Posted in: Uncategorized

Toxic People And A Second Brain – Five Boosts 8/23/20

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels

Five Easy Ways to Make Your Life Better for 8/23/20

Build Your Second Brain

(Dean Yeong | deanyeong.com | 225 words | Subscribe)

Keep a file on your favorite note-taking app called “Quick Capture,” so you can jot down any thoughts as they come to you, and don’t have to worry about remembering them.

Then schedule time at the end of the day or week to review these so you can act on them, add them to your to-do list, or do whatever’s appropriate.

I like this because it’s so much simpler than most personal information management systems I’ve seen. My general belief is that self-help advice needs to make improvement easier, not harder.

11 Incredibly Easy Things to Stop Doing to Be Happier

(Steven Ray Marks | Self Helping Yourself | 2025 words)

Common ways people sabotage their own happiness that would be easy to stop, including:

  • Arguing on the internet
  • Doomscrolling and catastrophism
  • Expecting people to be mind-readers
  • Wishing things were better and dreaming up solutions to problems they have no control over
  • Spending time around toxic people
  • Taking it personally when someone’s a jerk

How to Deal With Difficult People

(John Hernandez | Addicted2Success | 900 words)

Sometimes there are difficult people in life that you can’t avoid. The best way to handle these are:

  1. Listen, then wait.
  2. Reinforce your relationship.
  3. Understand the person.
  4. Make progress.

As someone who’s generally able to get along with difficult people, I’d add that you shouldn’t argue with them. If they say something awful or stupid, just inwardly roll your eyes and move on. Challenging them will only make it worse.

Note: I recommend reading the last two articles in order. They connect well together, with both discussing ways to handle toxic people.

10 Unusual Problem Solving Methods

(Nelville Medhora | KopywritingKourse.com | Infographic | Subscribe)

If you’re stuck on a problem, here are some offbeat ways to reframe it that might help you find a solution. Suggestions include:

  • Write out many solutions, then rank them by effectiveness and difficulty
  • Thank the problem
  • Think of a hilarious solution

Quiet Your Inner Critic – 5 Powerful Strategies

(Shane Walker | The Self Improvement Blog | 1000 words)

Ways to fight the negative voices in your head that prevent growth.

  1. Use counter-affirmations
  2. Write down your critical thoughts
  3. Challenge your inner critic
  4. Quiet your inner critic by disassociation
  5. Know your value

Self Helping Yourself Tweet of the Week

Be sure to follow @YourselfHelping on Twitter.

Enjoy Five Boosts By Self Helping Yourself? Be sure to Subscribe and check out the Self Helping Yourself site.

Posted in: Uncategorized

Comfort, Happiness, And Energy – Five Boosts 8/16/20

Photo by Lidya Nada on Unsplash

Five Easy Ways to Make Your Life Better for 8/16/20

The Four States of Distress: How to Comfort Someone When Something Bad Happens to Them

(Kat Woods and Spencer Greenberg | Clearer Thinking | 1200 words )

When a friend or loved one suffers a trauma, it’s difficult to know how to comfort them.

The most helpful response will depend on both the individual person and what phase of distress they’re in. The four phases are:

  1. Shocked or confused
  2. Feeling bad and not ready to feel better
  3. Feeling bad but wants to feel better
  4. Feeling better and wants solutions

The article suggests the best ways to comfort people for each of these phases.

I found this article in the Recomendo newsletter.

10 Incredibly Easy Ways to Be Happier

(Steven Ray Marks | Self Helping Yourself | 1600 words)

Ways to be happier that take no effort or willpower, and minimal to no time commitment. They are:

  1. Be kind and respectful to people, whether or not they “deserve it.”
  2. Make out with your romantic partner daily.
  3. Smile more.
  4. Curate your social media.
  5. When feeling overwhelmed by an intractable problem, improve the world in some tangible way. (Even if it’s unrelated.)
  6. Keep a gratitude journal.
  7. Make reminders to be more positive and less negative.
  8. Keep a “Done” list.
  9. Spend money on experiences, not on objects.
  10. Use visual pattern-matching games to fight anxiety or anger.

An Easy Way to Read More Non-Fiction Books

(Mark Manson | Mindf*ck Monday | 1550 words | Subscribe)

Manson suggests a strategy that seems obvious, but I’ve never seen before or thought of myself:

When when you come across a section in a non-fiction book that says something you already know or is uninteresting to you, skip past it.

If you pick up later in the book and discover things are confusing because you missed something, you can always go back. But most of the time, you’ll still be able to follow it.

You can also look at the table of contents, and only read the chapters that are interesting/new to you. There’s no “book police” forcing you to read the entire book in order.

You can get through books in half the time, which means you can read twice as many books.

I Tried 7 Popular Strategies to Boost My Energy: Here’s What Works

(Rachael Kable | Medium/BetterHumans | 2000 words)

The author tested energy-boosting strategies on herself. She found that the ones that worked for her were:

  • Early morning sunshine
  • Mindful breaks
  • Vigorous workout
  • A fun activity and laughing out loud

And what didn’t work was:

  • Cold shower
  • A brisk walk with a friend
  • Breath of fire (short powerful exhales)

Though an important caveat, which the author notes, is that every person is different. What works for her may not work for you.

You should experiment with strategies yourself, rather than copying her specific results.

I found this article in Greg Roth’s The Idea Enthusiast

11 Habits to Be Less Absent Minded and Start to Be More Attentive

(Dr. Carol Morgan | Relationship Development & Transformation | 1100 words)

Some easy, pragmatic, actionable ways to overcome your absent-mindedness.

Even if you aren’t absent-minded, this is some good general advice for being more productive and effective. Examples include:

  • Put everything back in the same place
  • Set timers
  • Delegate responsibilities
  • Have an accountability buddy
  • Stop talking and start doing

Self Helping Yourself Tweet of the Week

Be sure to follow @YourselfHelping on Twitter.

Enjoy Five Boosts By Self Helping Yourself? Be sure to Subscribe and check out the Self Helping Yourself site.

Posted in: Uncategorized

Hedonism, Civility, And Useless Days: Five Boosts 8/9/20

Five Easy Ways to Make Your Life Better for 8/9/20

15 Things to Do When You Have No Idea What to Do

(Barrie Davenport | Live Bold and Bloom | 1900 words | Subscribe )

What to do when you just can’t seem to kick your brain into gear. Suggestions include:

  • Do mindless tasks
  • Try meditation
  • Help someone else
  • Take the logical first step
  • Do nothing and take the day off

Related: Disembarking From the Failboat

In Defense of Hedonism

(Kyle Shnitzer | The Ladders | 350 words)

Hedonism gets a bad rap.

But a big part of happiness is the ability to take time to just enjoy yourself, without being distracted by worries over long-term goals.

Obviously focusing on long-term goals and enjoying yourself are also important. But you should have a balance.

10 Incredibly Easy Ways to Improve Your Health

(Steven Ray Marks | Self Helping Yourself | 2050 words)

Ten ways to lose weight and be healthier that take no effort or willpower, and minimal to no time. Including:

  • Switch to diet soda.
  • Use smaller plates.
  • Look up how many calories are in your favorite dishes at restaurants.
  • Buy your own exercise equipment instead of going to the gym.
  • Use chopsticks when eating chips.

Turning Violent Disagreements Into Civil Discourse

(Michael Hyatt | Michael Hyatt & Co. | 575 words)

We live in polarized times, where screaming and hate have replaced civil discourse.

Here are some excellent suggestions on how to better communicate with people that disagree with you:

  • Begin where you agree.
  • Keep an open mind.
  • Get your facts straight.
  • Be willing to state your view but with humility.

I especially like that this article gives no indications of the author’s own political views. That’s how it should be, since this advice applies to people of all beliefs.

If you like this piece, I suggest you check out the organization Braver Angels, which is dedicated to political tolerance and depolarization.

Related: How to Win Allies

7 Small Habits That Will Steal Your Happiness

(Henrik Edberg | Positivity Blog | 1625 words | Subscribe)

To be happier, stop doing these things:

  1. Immersing yourself in negative voices.
  2. Waiting for just the right time.
  3. Letting criticism get under your skin.
  4. Focusing on envy, powerlessness, and the wrong people.
  5. Not allowing yourself peace and rest.
  6. Never trying anything new.
  7. Taking things too seriously.

Self Helping Yourself Tweet of the Week

Be sure to follow @YourselfHelping on Twitter.

Enjoy Five Boosts By Self Helping Yourself? Be sure to Subscribe and check out the Self Helping Yourself site.

Posted in: Uncategorized

Fear, Investing, And Impostors – Five Boosts 8/2/20

Five Easy Ways to Make Your Life Better for 8/2/20

The Incredibly Simple, One Sentence Guide to Investing

(Steven Ray Marks | Self Helping Yourself | 1700 words)

The one sentence is:

Once you’ve paid off all your credit card debt, invest as much as you can in your 401k, and park your money in an index fund without paying any attention to the market.”

That’s all you need to know about investing.

Anything more complicated will give you worse results.

The article gives more detail on why this is the case, what an index fund is, and how to pick which index fund, so it’s definitely worth reading. (If I do say so myself. 😉)

21 Ways to Overcome Impostor Syndrome

(Kyle Eschenroeder | Startup Bros. | 3100 Words)

Impostor Syndrome is the feeling that you’re not qualified to be doing your job, and that everyone will realize you’re a fraud. It’s shockingly common, even among elites and experts.

It’s hard to summarize this lengthy article, because each of the 21 diverse suggestions will resonate with different people.

But if this is something you ever suffer from, or you ever haven’t pursued something you wanted because you thought you weren’t qualified, I highly recommend reading this.

I found this article in For the Interested, which gives advice mainly directed toward online creators, but is useful for everyone.

Optimism 2020: A Manifesto

(Trevor McKendrick | How It Actually Works | 450 Words | Subscribe)

Fifteen suggestions on being more optimistic, including:

  • Focus on things you can influence.
  • Do something today instead of daydreaming about tomorrow.
  • Move fast. Most decisions can be reversed later.
  • Recognize the pie is not fixed and life is not zero sum.
  • Believe we can solve any problem.

6 Strategies to Overcome Fear

(Henrik Edberg | Positivity Blog | 1400 Words | Subscribe)

  1. Ask what’s the worst that can happen.
  2. Write out the fear.
  3. Change your perspective.
  4. Question your fears and what they’re based on.
  5. Breathe and take a moment to accept the fear.
  6. Take small steps forward.

How to Change Your Personality For the Better

(Olga Khazan | Next Big Idea Club | 600 Words | Subscribe)

Most people assume that their personality is fixed.

But you actually can change your personality if you want.

All you have to do is act the way you want your personality to be, and eventually your personality will change to follow your actions.

I found this in Nir Eyal’s Nir and Far newsletter.

Self Helping Yourself Tweet of the Week

Be sure to follow @YourselfHelping on Twitter.

Enjoy Five Boosts By Self Helping Yourself? Be sure to Subscribe and check out the Self Helping Yourself site.

Back to Top