Ask HN: Is there a new habit you cultivated recently that is really paying off?

Stop buying stuff.

I was a compulsive spender. Never bought on credit mind but I’d blow my entire paycheque after bills on stuff like cameras, hifi, the latest Apple doodad, etc.

I literally stopped buying anything not required for my day to day sustenance. No Netflix, started renting what I wanted to watch which forced me to be more picky with my expenditure and time.

No more eating out except for special occasions. Packed lunches and home made meals only.

No more buying books until I read the ones on my shelf.

No more buying a new Mac every time my old one got mildly slow.

No more video games or Blu-rays until I had finished the ones sitting in shrink wrap on the shelf.

Once you pare things down you start to become almost painfully aware of how the seemingly little expenditures add up fast.

With the surplus income I ended up with about 6-8 months living expenses saved which suddenly made me realize that I had the freedom to look around from my present job. Which so far is working out I think... (started my own company and launching our product this month :)

I started meditating recently after having been carpet-bombed by its potential benefits for years across various media and platforms, and now, after a few weeks of regular practice, I must say this -- I was pleasantly surprised by how much my outlook toward life changed since I started practicing 'mindfulness' -- a type of meditation involving focusing on the present moment with the understanding that buzzing thoughts are super fleeting.

It was hard at the beginning, very hard in fact; but once I made a habit of doing it every day no matter how busy (I think) I got, it really started making a difference -- it started paying off.

I'm now measurable more focused, less distracted by outside stimuli (screens, people, news) and have gotten more adept at observing my thoughts and feelings before they snowball into something more neurotic -- very good attributes to have in our ever more distracted world. In short, I have more CONTROL over my attention, which has immensely added to how I experience life.[0]

Highly recommend it.

[0] https://hbr.org/2018/03/to-control-your-life-control-what-yo...

Walking home every day. It's about an hour or so, vs my 20 mins on public transport, but it's become a good time of meditative reflection and has provided me with some fitness benefits. It's also time I'd otherwise spend just reading the internet or playing a videogame anyway.

Also, trying to meal prep a large number of the same dish to avoid buying lunches during the week and thus spending a large amount of money needlessly. I don't mind eating the same thing for several days, though to avoid that you'd just need to prep 2 or 3 meals of smaller size. It doubles as an effective way to portion control too, since I can use containers of a specific size. It also means that many nights of the week I get home from my walk and just toss one in the microwave or oven to reheat and don't end up eating any later than normal.

Edit: Both of the above have helped me maintain my post-glandular-fever weight loss of about 14kg, which has left me feeling significantly healthier than I was previously. Occasionally I blow out with a weekend of debauchery involving way too much alcohol and unhealthy food, but the walking then chips that back down and gives me motivation to limit said blowouts as I now have a quantifiable amount of effort that it equates to.

Deliberately trying to cultivate friendships and openness, both by being a bit more open and honest with people, and by asking them very gentle questions to let them know that I'm somebody they can be open with, if they want.

I also set up a 'close friends' filter on Facebook for people I can be a bit more honest with - not 'all drama, all the time' type of stuff, but more about starting interesting discussions about stuff that we don't normally talk about: emotions, relationships, etc. I'm tired of keeping my Facebook life relentlessly positive and polished - not only is it bad for me, but bad for everybody else who sees me as just another person with a better life than their own.

It's all pretty terrifying, but it's definitely paying off. If you have mental health issues, I can't overstate the goodness of having friends around you who know and understand about that.

Just show up - I started this last year going to the gym - if I didn't feel like going to work out, I just went to the gym and messed around, did whatever I felt like, even for 15 or 20 minutes and then left. The discipline has translated into other projects - a camper reno, a game engine, etc. Just showing up is more than half the battle, even if you don't accomplish much on one given day.

In November, I wrote a personal update later and found some people that I hadn't talked to in over 5 years. I sent 10 people that letter and said if more than 5 reach out, I am going to do this monthly. 8 of them reached back out! I felt honored that people still remembered me and wanted to keep up.

I've been doing as vulnerable a letter as I can every month. And people I know from all sorts of relationships are reading it. Friends, family, mentors, you name it. Covering everything from work to romance to health. Not only has it helped me get more vulnerable, but it keeps me up to date with others, and when I see people in person they already have a conversation to start with. Overall it's been awesome and a highly recommend it for keeping relationships alive and strong.

Going to libraries. In 35 years I don’t even think I stepped inside one. One day two years ago I read that a nearby library (Sunnyvale, CA) had audiobooks and I decided to check it out, because I wanted something to listen on my commute.

Mind. Blown.

Books, movies, comics, computers, printers, ebooks, audiobooks, board games, chidren’s area, and lots more. All for free.

The way my audiobook library app works (Overdrive) is that you can add different library cards from different library “networks”. So Sunnyvale and a bunch of Mountain View and Cupertino libraries are part of one network, while San Francisco libraries are from another network, and so are San Mateo, or San Jose, or Monterey.

So I’ve been collecting library cards. 15 so far. Even went to Sacramento to get a card. On my way back I stopped at Contra Costa county, Berkeley and the Oakland.

Where I saw video game titles. Mind. Blown. Again. I found other libraries close to home with video games, and now I regularly check out children games for my son.

Almost every weekend I go the library, to get videogames, blu-rays and dvds. And I can actually put a hold on the titles online.

Libraries are just amazing.

Turn 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 means my settings, username etc is gone and instead of seeing my subreddits, being able to comment, being able to login to email, that just cant be done. Now feeds are an activity only enjoyable at work.

1. 8 years ago delete my Facebook account.

2. 5 years ago stopped looking at my phone in bed.

3. 2 years ago delete my twitter account.

4. 6 months ago stopped looking at my phone & computer from dinner time to my son's bed time.

5. 2 weeks ago removed email from phone.

Each step along the way, I feel better.

Also regular exercise and a healthy diet.

TODO: Meet more people and increase my social friendships. Also more meditation (Headspace app works great for a beginner like me.)

Replacing alcohol with water, except for occasional social events. Too many times I’d come home dead tired mentally and reach for a cold one, which inevitably led to…another cold one haha. Replace with water (bonus if you add a little apple cider vinegar to it!), you’ll feel better and your body will thank you. No non-social drinking allowed!

I've always been an engineer and enjoyed being that for almost 25 years now. Learning new things was kind of my way to end my work days.

One thing I admired and never really understood was people that went out every day posting new content, tech tutorials etc. almost daily, being active on Twitter, engaging with other people. Being a kid from the 1970s these things were really weird for me because they are digital and not analog.

So I decided to actually try it out and try living as one of the guys producing helpful tutorials and engaging/mentoring on Twitter and other platforms.

I think it might be a great habit to cultivate because it pretty much fits into moving beyond my comfort zone.

Would be nice to hear from others who tried this thing and hear if it actually was rewarding. For now, I just suspect it will pay off in the long run.

[1]: https://twitter.com/marenkay/status/1006286995767877634 [2]: https://marenkay.com/2018/06/11/symfony-user-provider/

I started sshing into my desktop at home to write code. I've never been so liberated. I can literally code from any computer I borrow (friends or library) and pick up exactly where I left off (tmux session) with the same text-editor configuration (vim) instantly.

I realized that my previous desire to have the latest macbook so excessive, and now I'm happy with just a light and durable $200 chromebook.

I teach a few people how to code, and I created accounts on my desktop for them to ssh into and they are loving it as well.

Switched to a ketogenic diet with intermittent fasting 5 months ago. My sleep quality, mental clarity, ability to focus for long periods of time and mood swings have all improved dramatically. I am also shredding fat at a pretty good pace and apparently also gaining muscle (I lift every single day if I can).

Switching 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 the past. I clearly enjoy life much more when I'm well-rested and can _also_ get more done under those circumstances.

[0] https://www.friendlyskies.net/intj/managing-effective-sleep-...

Reading books. I was never a reader as kid. And, for the last 10 years or so of my adult life, the only reading I've done was programming tutorials, documentation, and whatever I ran into on the web. Certainly, there wasn't any reading done for fun.

But, last month after picking up lunch one day, I actually walked into the used book store and bought a book. Yesterday, I started reading book #4. Kinda surprised I went through the first few so quick.

I've been reading on my lunch hour most days, but spent this weekend going through 2/3 of one I started last week.

Not sure how much it's "paying off", but I'm definitely staying off my phone/web at lunch. The stories have me more engrossed than I anticipated too.

A morning routine involving no phone, computer, etc. for the first hour of the day has been great for me.

I usually wake up, make coffee, read for about 30 min, and then gratitude journal and plan my day. (I use Panda Planner purely for convenience, I'm sure a blank sheet of paper works as well.)

This allows me to set my own schedule and prioritize my day, rather than reacting to the demands placed on me by others. I've seen improvement in both 1) my general productivity and 2) my progress on the long-term tasks I'd usually be more likely to put off.

Working out. Just body weight workouts. No gym. It improved my golf game.

Another is: not buying sodas with my meal. Self-explanatory.

Another: Spending brief interludes of time where a compile or unit test is happening to write down what I'm going to do next. It keeps me on task.

Another: Incrementally cleaning/organizing my condo.

Another: Walking around hardware, furniture, craft stores, Walmart, Target, etc, to see what consumer goods are available. There's often something useful that I didn't know I needed or wanted.

I stopped smoking cannabis a little over a month ago and now I feel all this energy surging through me that I had been missing since 2017.

I had been really down since my SO passed away in september but I hadn't smoked what you might consider excessively. The problem was that I smoked too regularly. Like a little pinch in a pipe twice a week. That's enough to keep my body affected by it. And it takes at least a month for it to purge.

I've been through this before but the older I get the more I notice the changes, the contrast in energy and behavior.

So this last time has me thinking of never smoking again. Or at least never getting into a smoking period longer than one week again. An occasional spliff with friends would be ok but no repeats.

Anyways, none of that is on the map for now, right now I'm feeling so great. I'm finishing off projects, I'm coding until the sun comes up, I'm exercising. God I love being clean!

Recently 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 regularly and don't get distracted.

3. When you strike some things off, you see the progress that you are achieving something. Just deleting everything shows you long list of tasks yet to be done and can be demotivating.

https://www.amazon.com/Eat-That-Frog-Great-Procrastinating/d...

Reducing my portions for food, even if it's healthy stuff. I've found that it's helped me drop a considerable amount of weight yet still be able to have things I want to have, even if they're unhealthy. I started playing around with it towards the end of college and its helped me reduce food spending, intake, overall weight, and I've been shrinking dishes so the dishes I do have to do are smaller. In the vein of reducing portions, limiting certain foods to certain days of the week and committing to it has become much easier (i.e., Friday and Saturday are the only two days of the week I'll have pizza barring special occasions).

I've been trying to make exercise and working out seem positive for years now, but I don't get the rush from it that everyone else seems to. Lifting things up and down is boring, running on the treadmill or elliptical is boring, and I'm not in that kind of shape to do some kind of hyperactive training regimen. I basically just do it because sacrificing 30 mins to an hour at the gym after work and then the commute time back home is a fair trade off for not having to worry about a lot of health complications down the line.

One that I was into at my last job and that I've been trying to reintroduce is a nap after work. At my last job, I'd come home and take a nap for an hour or so, and wake up feeling like doing something. This got crushed by introducing above exercise: I'd go work out, come home and say "oh I'll take a nap", and wake up an hour or so before I had to sleep.

Stopped thinking about trying to be the best and just doing the best I can.

Sounds simple but it was quite an issue for me. I was putting a tremendous pressure on myself and others, causing me anxiety and sadness.

Just doing the best I can and being happy. There's more life beyond work and perfection is just a falacy.

Counting calories. I finally lost 50 lbs and learned that when I’d go to the gym or go for a run, I’d compensate by eating more, which is why I never lost the weight I wanted in 20 years of regular exercise.

I still exercise, but now I do it to 1- get stronger, and 2- earn calorie budget so I can eat more.

Quit Facebook( which really means just access it 2mins per week on a Sunday, just because I'm on a few groups ). Close down Instafart.

Quit watching porn, after realising the health risks are not worth the benefits.

Quit buying sweets of any kind, especially sugary ones, for myself. I still buy chips for everyone when meeting with friends. I still eat sweets as long as they are made at home. And yes, I have cheat days. So it's not perfect.

The benefits trickled down, phone usage went down etc. etc.

So I got into the habit of quitting, and seeing things for what they are.

Saying "no" more often, surely but compassionately and kindly.

It allowed me to claim back some of my own time back.

I don't mean a gruff and negative "no". A positive and assertive no.

I used to be afraid of saying no. I guess it was due to FOMO or due to trying to avoid a negative reaction. I realized though that I don't owe anyone anything (in most cases) and saying "no" is perfectly OK.

Completely changing my mindset toward success. Only having positive thoughts. All actions start with me to attain my most desired goals. No complaining, no blaming, no hesitating, and no coulda woulda shoulda. Instead, "Next time I'm in this situation, this is what I'll do to be successful." Staying focused on the goal. Failure is only a necessary stepping stone toward success and is only there to tell you how to do it better.

Rising above standards and expectations set upon me by others. Only you set your own goals. Be the best available in your career and you will be set for life.

"Win as though you're used to it, lose as though you like it."

I set a goal of using my feet to walk around and engage team members in 5 work conversations (unscheduled) each day. The change in culture and the identification of problems, road blocks, oppertunities has been eye opening. As a natural introvert who’d rather be heads down it has made me much more effective in the team.

Yoga. 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.

But of an odd one, but I've been trying actively to make better eye contact with the intention of being a better communicator. I think it's had the unintended effect of making me a better listener, which I'd argue is more important.

I have recently removed the habit of 'relentless skill acquisition' in favor of meditation. If I had a spare 20 minutes I used to practice various skills that I wanted to become good at. While this is probably better than mindlessly ingesting social media or the internet, it has the unique problem of allowing one's identity to get caught up in how good at skill acquisition one can get, and also requires concentration, which is not quite as beneficial to the mind as meditation. The side benefit to this is that it amazingly reduces spending in support of hobbies, which was an ancillary budgetary concern. In short, if you stop visualizing yourself as 'good at something' and then needing to purchase the gear in support of that hobby, you save a lot of cash.

Actually sitting down to train my memory once a day. At a bare minimum I memorize the order of a pack of cards, but I try and work in other exercises when I have the time. I'm in the process of memorizing my first book.

Super helpful if you're an IT guy and need to remember a bunch of different IP addresses, usernames, and passwords. Also people love it when you remember their name. Highly recommend taining your memory, it's very useful.

Just eating less carbs has made me feel a lot better. I'm not too intense about it, but just being mindful of it makes me a lot less tired after meals.

Running outside.

I've lost a lot of weight, I feel noticeably fitter/stronger, and I find it really helps to calm down if I've had a crazy day at work. Sometimes I think through things, sometimes my mind is strangely blank. Either way I come back feeling calmer and more settled afterwards. I wouldn't say I "enjoy" running (getting ready to go for a run is still a struggle), but once I am out and have been moving for 5 minutes or so it feels like it was worth it as I get a little bit of a buzz out of it.

It can be a little time-consuming, e.g. get ready, run for 40-60 minutes, shower & get changed again etc so you're looking at 1.5 or more hours of time gone. I try to run to work now so that I can replace the commute with running and get showered for the day at work (I take work clothes in with me in a backpack) so that saves a bit of time.

Running on a treadmill in a gym simply does not compare - the feeling of the running is different, the scenery never changes, and its too hot/no air movement.

Best advice for anyone considering starting is: start out slow and dont try to go too fast (it feels a lot slower than running on a treadmill at the gym), build the distance up slowly (I started with just under a mile and considered that an achievement, now I do 5-6 miles or so), listen to your body - if something really hurts then stop and get it checked out by a physio, and get an app that tracks your pace and speed etc (I use run keeper but I know others like strava - run keeper gives you audio read outs on pace etc). I've found a decent pair of bluetooth headphones and a running-belt/-band to put my phone in have been totally worth it (the arm-pockets you see a lot were either way too tight or slip around too much for me)

Good luck :)

I completely cut out carbonated drinks, I recently went to the dentist and was expecting the usual "You haven't been looking after your teeth" spiel but instead was told my teeth were in great shape. It's also been very good for my overall energy levels, I suspect that those sugar highs/crashes were worse than I had realized.

Keeping a diary. I started somewhere around the beginning of 2000, but unfortunately on paper which I have lost. In 2005 I switched to digital. I lost some more notes due to using a proprietary format and app crashes but have since then written my notes in plain text. I have around 3500 (standard book) pages of personal notes.

I started keeping a diary because I wanted to write fiction but couldn't keep at it, so I just put my streams of thoughts on paper. Later I got used to writing daily, and it has become my primary way to relax and clear my head.

Reading what I was doing and thinking ten years ago has been very valuable to me. It's a treasure trove of memories. But it is way more than a nostalgic pleasure. It has helped me to understand my thought processes. And distance myself from it.

It made me realise the meaning "you are not your thoughts" on a deeper level that is hard to explain here. I'm very happy I started this so many years ago and kept at it.

I spend the first 15 minutes after waking up sitting in my garden in silence. There is no 'payoff' data that I can measure, but I do feel like my head is clearer and more focused all day

Going to a psychologist for my anxiety. Learning to manage and control it before it becomes panic has been just awesome. It’s just been two months and I’m already hopeful.

New 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.

For me, that would be keeping a diary.

I don't have any hard data, but I feel better and seem to have a better grip on life since I started. I'm using a relaxed version of Bullet Journal and I kept at it for much longer than I expected.

Swimming laps most mornings. I never had the discipline to learn to swim properly when I was younger, and have always been an avid runner and cycler. Adding swimming into the mix has balanced out my conditioning, and the meditative state you can achieve while in the zone is great for creative problem solving. Highly recommended.

Mine is _very_ modest compared to some of the excellent ones posted thus far, but it has certainly worked for me.

"No seconds" rule i.e. don't take a second helping of food. I have lost 10 lbs since last month and hope to get to my ideal weight losing another 20 lbs.

It is actually surprisingly easy to get this habit going and maintain it.

Not giving a fuck.

https://www.amazon.com/Subtle-Art-Not-Giving-Counterintuitiv...

This will sound a little boring to you but the following 5 habits made me stronger after only 2 weeks. I suffer from general fatigue (I did a million check up with specialist and nothing came out). I've tried so many different things to boost my level of energy naturally, that's the result of a long study and experiment:

- Cutting caffeine to only one coffee on the morning and taking that coffee at least one hour after waking up, always at the same time. If I switch that habit of about an hour I get tired and get a slight headache, it would take me at least 2 days to get back on track. It took me a while to figure out how to optimize the intake of caffeine to avoid any side effects.

- Restricting time eating (intermittent fasting?). I leave myself a window of 10 hours, sometimes 9 when I can to get all my meals. Outside of that window it's only water. Our liver works efficiently for about 10-12h per day. Thanks to that I do have more energy in general.

- No more pasta and sugary products (besides fruits) inspired from the keto diet. Though, I do not get most of my calories from fats as suggested by the keto diet.

- I eat a handful of berries every single day all at once. It boosts my digestive system and fibers are essential.

- I try to run once a week for at least 30 minutes and at least 3 miles at once. This improve my general breathing and body strength.

That's it! Again, if I stick to these 5 habits, I win every day.

Meditation has been so helpful for me. I've been doing it every morning and don't think I'll ever stop

Napping. I take a 15 minute nap after I've put the kids to bed in the evening. I now feel like I've gained a second day every day. It's magical.

1. Stretch the lower back every day. I "programmed" this dude's workout into a free Android tool called Flexible Interval Timer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdCJrWNO7O8. All my coworkers love it too. He has great vids on warming up/cooling down for running and many other useful mobility things.

2. Bike to/from work and to places within ~1h bike ride of home. Huge positive impact on productivity and focus. Living in LA, there's always something going on. But if it's going on outside the ~1h bike bubble I might as well not go since there's probably something else I could do at home that's more productive towards goals.

3. Go to at least one artsy event a week. Usually Wednesdays. This week it was book club - we read Endurance by Alfred Lansing. Next week it's a ballet.

4. Use an Amazon Echo to play 5-15 minutes of a book on Overdrive before I go to sleep. Overdrive can be set to stop playing after a certain time interval so, when it stops, I fall asleep instantly. I also play 15 minutes of the book when I wake up. Libby (Overdrive's younger sister/brother from another mother) also works the same way. If I get tired earlier, I tell it to stop - this is great because I don't have to look at a screen to tell it to stop earlier.

5. No electronics except the echo and the kindle and the ipod that only plays overdrive over bluetooth in the bedroom.

6. I have 6 mentors I admire for 6 key characteristics. I have their photos on a printed PowerPoint slide along with the 6 characteristics. Whenever I need to make a hard decision, I look at the slide and I imagine what they would say. They almost always agree and I do the right thing :)

20-35 min of cardio at gym. I lifted for about a year, had a wrist injury so I started doing the recumbent bike. Hold 130+ heart rate for 20-25min. I wish I had done this when I started going to the gym, this combined with audiobooks took the "chore" out of cardio.

Also treating every bit of time like it is; a precious non-renewable resource, has helped more than it's hurt :).

Hiring a personal trainer and work out 5 times a week (only 2 with a trainer though, soon 1).

YMMV, a trainer has allowed me to fix goals and get tailored exercises so I progress quickly.

I repeat the exercises I did with the trainers the other days of the week.

Since I am not a morning person, I go to the gym in the evening, so I often go there , have a shower and go to sleep.

It has tremendously improved both my sleep and my energy levels.

Saying no.

To clients for uninteresting work. To scope creep and stopping unbilled features. To friends and family for social commitments when I know I’m spreading myself thin and may not be able to go through or not be fully present.

This helps me cut out FOMO and makes me a bit more sane

It is still scary to do it everytime but it also makes my Yeses a more conscious choice instead of being the de-facto option.

Not 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.

Almost all the habits here are about sleeping and exercise.

Exercise is one of those things that once you start, you crave so it is easier.

But sleep wasn't solved for me till I got a personal tracker. Suddenly I started to care when I measured how little or how much REM I got.

So I think if you get a personal tracker and track your steps and sleep, a lot of the rest will fall in place.

Tracking my Habits and weight every day. I picked 6 habits (exercise, meditation, teaching, presence, community, cleaning/oragnanizing) I wanted to focus on and used the Loop - Habits Tracker app to check my progress. For weight, I bought a WeightGurus smart scale.

Now, when I'm feeling irritable or tired I can check my app and see if I've been keeping up with the habits that "fill me up". If not, then instead of dumping my irritability on friends and family, I can focus on myself and put my energy into those habits instead.

For weight, getting daily feedback of weight and body composition helped me clearly see how tolerant my body is of carbs and over eating (not much!). It's way easier to pass on the pasta and garlic bread after seeing the results on the scale the next morning.

Common theme is more data on things I care about.

One mental burden I often suffer from is an inbox full of administrative tasks, i.e., not programming, that I have no desire to do yet they are obligatory.

The way I fixed this was by just thinking of always putting the ball in the other person's court.

Important messages comes in. I reply, then archive their message.

Not my problem any more.

Writing down what I want to accomplish for the day (errands, etc.) helped with my anxiety and stress. I usually do it before I go to bed, or in the morning.

Read on the treadmill.

Or videos, Udacity courses, etc - hard stuff, not novels. Two birds one stone, blood-pumping and endorphins helping maintain focus. I get a quality hour of education every day, where before it was a constant TODO.

I write code for a living, but for the most part it's not that interesting, so I've developed a habit of writing the code I want to write every day as well. I get in to my office ~30 minutes early and work on things I find interesting, plus I do an hour or so on weekends. I've been doing it for more than a year now and it's got me back to really enjoying the process of making software. Plus I've learnt a ton of stuff I wouldn't have had any opportunity to use in work projects.

I'm learning GLSL and signed distance fields at the moment. It's fun.

I started waking up at 5 AM, and for me it's turned out to be the habit that enables all other good habits.

1. Stopped drinking diet coke at home.

I had a relapse on this but now I'm back to not drinking it anymore. I'll drink one with pizza but won't stock it ever again. Glass bottles of Pellegrino sparkling water is my replacement.

2. Stopped eating after 8PM entirely.

Never done this before and it's excellent. Lost some weight and I feel better. Chewing Xytol gum when I feel the urge to eat but mostly don't need it.

3. Turned the brightness down on my monitors.

I try to get it closer to the ambient brightness of my room. Much easier on the eyes.

I made the decision to be positive and happy. Previously I let my mood/happiness levels be dictated by external factors. I realized that it was my decision so I started to make it a habit to be more positive.

I have a list of values/sayings which I review every week and I set a reminder on my phone. It keeps me focused on the most important things in life like my health and relationships with friends and family. I also believe in abundance mentality.

I stopped playing Heroes of the Storm and any games that aren't relaxing. If I am going to take some time off and play a game, I just play a simple retro console game. Play sessions are 15 minutes instead of 4+ hours. Not worried about "losing" or being griefed, etc. I don't care about "getting to the next level" or "opening up a loot crate" or any of that gamification / skinner-box stuff anymore.

Learned how to cook easy dishes for my family. My wife and I for years went all out on cooking stovetop dishes that take an hour or more of chopping and other kitchen labor before the meal and another 30-45 minutes of cleanup afterwards.

Exposure to Spanish dining habits on a vacation, use of time-saving tools such as an electronic pressure cooker and rice cooker, and learning how to use an oven for simple dishes really changed things for us.

Picking up rubbish whenever visible. Home always feels clean without proper cleaning.

Deep breathing! I started this and am absolutely in love with the results: greater clarity of mind, more feeling alive, more energetic. I had a minor problem of clearing my throat every few minutes: gone!

My concentration has improved as well. I'm able to code with better results and fewer errors.

While some could say that these results (and more) are all in my head - they would be absolutely right! I do feel better about myself, much better.

The specific method I use is the Wim Hof Method. Google this and notice he has over 20 world records. While he has a course for sale, youtube has many videos that cover all aspect of his technique.

Wim Hof has scientific proof that he can control his immune system. More importantly, he is not a freak and can teach others to achieve the same results.

My wife has cancer. We both do deep breathing exercises three times a day. She reports that chemo symptoms become much less severe after breathing. We have become driven to continue this practice due to her condition. I am so glad to have found this technique.

Disclaimer: I am not associated with the Wim Hof Method in any way and receive no compensation for this note.

Started using work cycles to complete work (day job, side gig, side project): https://www.ultraworking.com/cycles (by Sebastian Marshall's company, @lionhearted on here). Improvements have been incremental, but the rate of improvement is still increasing as I get more disciplined at using them.

Become more approachable and proactively try to strike up conversations with strangers. I've been working remotely for 5 years and felt the need to have a social circle. I didn't have work colleagues who I could meet up on a Friday night or do exciting stuff with. I realised I had to build my social life through unconventional means and also make myself more outgoing (and be okay with rejection if a stranger doesn't want to talk).

This habit has been incredibly powerful because a year since I took this resolution, I have a fairly interesting bunch of people I've met who I'm also in touch with. I found a friend who I could talk about work with (my industry), a friend who goes out with me for gigs, a friend who regularly hosts parties and makes me meet new people. Recently, I started talking to someone in my coworking space, asked her out on a date and she & I have been dating for a little over a month. It's truly wonderful if you make yourself more approachable and also make the effort to go talk to that stranger.

The “habit” I’ve gotten into over the past year are slow, incremental changes based on a simple framework of priorities in order:

1. Health

2. Relationships (wife first, children second, family/friends third)

3. Finances.

Yes my health comes before my wife and family. If I’m not healthy, I’m no good for my wife and family.

That being said, I also knew from the 10 years that I stayed in shape as a part time fitness instructor and surrounded by equally fit gym friends not to do any diet/exercise combination that wasn’t sustainable long term

Because of changes in my personal life (married vs. single), health changes (nothing serious) and being more invested in my career over the past 5 years I stopped working out consistently until late last year.

First change is a version of the “S diet” that I didn’t realize I was doing and eating food lower in saturated fat, sodium, and cholesterol because of high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

I equipped a spare bedroom as a home gym meaning I can work out anytime and my wife works out with me occasionally when she doesn’t go to the gym and I have a consistent (T, Th, Sat) and tracked workout schedule. But mostly it’s 2 hour calorie burning sessions.

I’ve lost about 20 pounds and I’m near my former fitness instructor body.

Next steps....

- Eat more fruits and vegetables

- add muscle building exercises on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Sundays)

- add high intensity interval trainings on (Mondays, Wednesday’s, and Sundays)

————

On the family front, stay off of my phone while I’m spending time with my family and budget “date nights” more often with my wife.

Getting up 15 minutes earlier and reading during that time every morning. I've always been a big reader but sometimes I find it hard to pick up a book after work.

Even the small amount of reading in the morning allows me to make a little progress every day and more often than not I keep thinking about the book during the day and I'm more likely to pick it up at after work.

Being more strict about having really thoughtful, relevant and clear purposes - and trying to really focus on only doing activities that really matters to achieving those purposes and goals. I feel this applies to everything, really pays off, and in my experience surprisingly few people question what and why they are doing something. They have shallow explanations that often break down when go a little bit deeper.

When developing an organization, why does this organization exist? What is the true purpose of doing your own startup? What is the true vision and purpose of the startup? Why do you live? How do you want your life to look like in 10 years? What are important things to achieve the best life you can in 10 years, and so forth.

From what I understand this is most often the most overlooked issue in success in more or less all types of activities. From developing software, achieving a happy life, succeed at work, succeed as an entrepreneur, and so on.

A cold shower in the morning. It is quick, cheap, easy on the skin, wakes you up and makes you feel like a champion.

Started working out, started vaping (and stopped smoking). Noticeable quality of life increase in just a few weeks

I took a month-long sabbatical last Fall to learn a new skill (machine learning). I had a project goal to keep me focused on making progress and staying practical: making an ios app that will use ML to "recognize" the letters on a Boggle game grid and "solve" it, printing out all the words on that grid. I made large strides during the month but the project wasn't quite working at the end. After the sabbatical it was back to work at my dayjob and I had a lot of motivation but little time, so I kept telling myself, "No time to work on it today, but I'll try tomorrow."

After a few weeks thinking this and not doing any work, I despaired that my project would end up as vaporware, blowing away in the smoke of my good intentions. So I started a new habit: Committing to work on it, every day, for just 15 minutes.

I use a pomodoro timer (Vitamin-R) and note-taking app (EverNote) to do my daily 15 minutes. Each time I start, I write down my goal for that session, and keep a running list of things I think of to do but don't get to in that particular session. Every day I successfully put in 15 minutes I mark off that day on a 365-day hanging wall calendar that is on the back of my apartment door.

Results:

* I have worked on the app for 90% of the days this year.

* I absolutely got it to a "working" state (I am now facing a diminishing returns problem where I'm putting in too much time fiddling with UX and UI polish, but that's a problem I'm happy to have).

* On over 50% of the days I end up working more than 15 minutes.

* On days when I feel like going longer, and have the time, I'll still occasionally hard-stop at 15 minutes. This gives me something I'm eager to come back to tomorrow, and also (I think) helps to engrain the habit. I want my subconscious to always think: yes, the cost of starting my session today really is only 15 minutes, I will do this even if I don't feel like I have a lot of willpower today.

Spearfish and hunt more often. It gets in into nature, ensures healthy meat and forces you to take things slow. Plus lots of energy. It amazing how many things you otite when you look.

Note, “hunting” could just be for plants/mushrooms if you are vegetarian. No need to kill animals to get these same results.

Couple of trivial ones with good results:

Noted down the websites that I visit when I am waiting for something to finish, selected the ones I don't really need and blocked them. That reduced the context switching significantly.

Also started to brush teeth right after dinner, which avoids the occasional snack afterwards.

50 pushups, 50 situps, 50 bodyweight squats, and 3x1 minute planks (left, right, middle) every day followed by a shower before I go to bed.

Stretch my hamstrings every day. I, like much of HN, sit at a desk all day and my hamstrings had gotten incredibly stiff.

Earn at least 1 crown a day on duolingo.

I feel better and I sleep better.

Writing one technical blog [1] post per day. I started in January. Back then I had ~400 people on the blog on a good day.

It's paying off in terms of traffic, as last week I got over 2k visits from Google alone, but more importantly I learned a ton in the past few months, because of the continuous process of learning / building something / testing / writing / revising / incorporating feedback / repeat the next day.

Sometimes I think I know something, only to realize later that I only barely scratch the surface of a topic, and there's a lot of things underneath.

How do I find the time - I started waking up 2 hours earlier than what I used to do. Made all the difference.

[1]: https://flaviocopes.com

Unplug.

I started to use two phones one smartphone and one dummy phone for messages and phone calls. I stop to google everything. I'm fine to say I don't know and I don't have to get correct answer now. I can live with it. I also started to listen more radio and push to disconnect from internet and computers. I learn to use pen and block to write old-fashion way and it helps a lot.

All this has paid back very well, I learn how to think without interruption, be more creative, talk with people, listen and it removed a lot of stress, pressure and other problems related to information overload and smartphone addiction. I want to continue on that and cut my computer time to less than 4 hours per day (all devices, smartphone, laptop, tablet...).

Power naps.

The last couple of years I noticed my inner child suffering. I had to force myself to have fun, be witty & enjoy the things I do / see / encounter.

Currently I hold a job that allows me to take power naps: all of a sudden I am back to my normal self again.

Dunno, but proberbly my age (>50).

Scheduling every minute of the next day the previous night. I got this idea from Deep Work and it's, I think, the most valuable piece of advice from the book. It helps me structure the day and not feel like it's wasted at the end before I go to bed.

Building exercise into my day. I've always worked out but up until recently I viewed it as 45+ minutes of my day that I had to dedicate it to that.

Recently I got one of those door frame pull up bars for the office and some dip rings. 80 (I worked up to that number) mon-wed-fri and 100 dips tue-thur has been a huge game changer. Even if I don't go to the gym at all I'm able to keep a basic level of fitness.

Throw in a 20 minute ab routine once a week, 25 minute sprint workout once a week, and a shoulders day at the gym and I've covered just about everything. Less than a half hour a day of exercise. Add in a healthy diet and I can stay in great shape without dedicating too much time to it.

There are so many ranging from quiting smoking to biking instead of driving, but the primary idea is this:

Think hard about the things you do and why you do them. Figure out what you need to change, then make one change at a time. Don't try to cut all sugar intake, just stop drinking soft drinks. After a while it's normal, cut something else. You'll slowly get more formidable.

But you need to think about it. Why are you eating a bunch of food with sugar in it anyway? Because it tastes bad otherwise? Well, what tastes good besides sugar? Spices and herbs! Salt, pepper, mint, olive oil, and lemon juice make a salad sing!

That type of thinking. Don't muddle in the shitty parts, solve them.

Cycling to work (weather permitting) (I used to take the Tube).

Home workouts, using mostly body-weight exercises (along with rings and a pull-up bar). I no longer go to the gym, so there are less "transaction costs" to exercise; we'll see how this one will turn out.

Taking less organized notes, mostly in one "Notes" email draft in my Gmail account. Reduces the mental friction/resistance to taking notes, because I don't feel the need to keep them tidy.

Some time ago, I started using smaller plates, to reduce the perceived, and therefore hopefully also actual, portion sizes.

Skipping lunch (baring social obligations), so that I can gorge for dinner (I rarely eat breakfast anyhow).

Keeping a markdown based combined project journal + todo list, in the repo / folder of each project.

Wrote about it here recently: http://bionics.it/posts/computational-lab-note-taking-todo-l...

Just amazing how much better I keep track of the state of projects now (I even mark the tasks I'm currently working on, with [>], in addition to the open checkbox [ ] and checked ones [x]), and also have a clear place to put all the ideas I get for what to do etc, without switching context to another app etc.

I am a grad student and currently enjoying my summer as am doing a research project at the university while most of my friends have left for their homes. I was 47 pounds overweight one year back and had no time for any exercises because of my studies. But now I am quite free and have been swimming 4-5 times for the last 3 weeks and have already lost 15 pounds. The best thing about swimmming is that it doesnt hurt anywhere like my knees or my ankles and I enjoy going for a swim for 40 minutes each. And I plan to keep continuing this for another 2 months hoping to lose atleast 15 pounds more.

Got back into fly fishing. I started when I was in college but kind of just ran out of time to practice and never really had many friends who did outdoorsy things.

My new job has me on-call a few months out of the year and it allows me to sneak away and get outside at a local park while being able to easily make it back home if needed (something that I can't easily do on long bike rides).

I also recently started tying my own flies which is something I found enjoyable. Its nice to create things outside of a computer screen occasionally and I have something concrete in my hand within an hour.

I started using a stand-up desk at home and standing on a "wobble cushion" on one leg.

This is only anecdotal, but I feel it helped me getting a grip on my weak ankles and knees, my key pain points when running.

I've started bringing my lunch to work.

It saves me around $50 per week. If I funnel that into my student loan, I'll save about $15,000 in interest from making the extra repayments.

That's the magic of compounding interest.

I start each day with a To Do list. For years I have been overwhelmed by how long it gets. I'm always adding things faster than I can take them off.

I recently started taking at least 4 things from the list and putting them on my calendar each day. Blocking off about half the day for major projects.

I know this is pretty basic, lots of developers have each hour scheduled much more efficiently. But this 1/2 step has been huge for me. I'm getting more done, and giving people much better estimates of when my projects are on track or getting delayed.

Going to bed on time, getting 8+ hours of sleep. Deleting all social media accounts. Turning off all notifications on smartphone. Meeting tons of new people through my food/cocktail side gig.

Take a few minutes every day and keep track on:

    - what happened today (o3 meetings, retros, grooming etc.)
    - what I've worked on
    - what I learned today (if anything)

What I learned today part (if anything) is the most interesting. Writing everything down, gives me context the next day. I also write things I'd like to ask or need to remember.

I review things I wrote regularly and that kinda cements knowledge. The extend of detail varies greatly, but all in all I'm happy with the process so far.

Stopped using any feature with infinite scroll implemented. It's the common thread between social media feeds, app store lists, streaming services, etc. For sites like HN I stop after the first page.

I was bored at first but then I started filling my time with more productive hobbies, which was the point. Infinite content providers are designed to steal all your time.

It's crazy how little I use the internet now. I never realized what it had become until I put some restrictions in place that ended up blocking out like 90% of the web.

Intermittent fasting. Basically eat while the sun is up and then water and only water otherwise. Huge health improvements, quit coffee, feel better at the gym & way more energy.

Lots of folks mention: taking their lunch, or anyway not going out to eat.

I did the opposite: I go out to lunch every day. Gets me out of the office, out of the rut, meeting other people (never eat alone!) and working out relationships (business or otherwise).

Then back to work, energized and with a fresh outlook.

But of course I'm at a different place in my career, where the cost is something I gladly afford for the benefits. I don't need $50 a week for anything nearly as important or beneficial.

Conducting Meetups and workshops.

Recently I started giving talks by organizing meetups and workshops. Mostly teaching and spreading awareness about open source software like Blender, Krita and others. It has so much positive impact on me and the people attending the workshop as well. I became confident in public speaking. Got deeper understanding of things which am teaching. Able to meet and connect with lot of amazing folks.

My wife and I deep cleaned the house then made a visual task board with different small (less than 30m) chores assigned to one or the other, on rotation, on a weekly basis. The house has never been less than acceptably clean (to a mother-in-law standard) since :)

Also, decluttering and reorganizing all storage spaces using the Marie Kondo method (where it made sense) helped a lot and once done it's hard to relapse.

switching my phone screen to gray scale tremendously helps me keep away from constantly checking twitter/instagram/facebook/quora updates

I stopped drinking sodas and eating candy. Almost no carbs as well. I want to work out more but I lack the discipline to leave the house once I come back from work, either too lazy or too tired and I start inventing excuses to miss the workout ("better clean this, fix that, send one more email..."). I also stopped watching TV and porn, both were huge time sinks with almost no RoI. edit: typos

I started making a semi-serious attempt to write fiction at the end of last year. It has been hard to turn into a habit but as of now I crank out a thousand words or so per session, three or four times a week, and it is an incredibly satisfying creative outlet. For better or worse, that's something I seem to need and my day job doesn't scratch that itch right now (or ever, really).

1. Stopped using Facebook (don't have Twitter, Instagram, etc. This includes removing the FB app from my phone (very important for security reasons).

2. No email on my personal phone. Work phone is a must but I use it exceedingly sparingly. I only check it when I am expecting something important during busy weeks (and even then, maybe not).

3a. Stopped commenting on any/all forums, news sites, or any type of social media altogether (YouTube most notably). HN is the one and only exception. Forums and comment sections are black hole vortexes for time. Trolls, arguments, etc. steal your time and attention. You must refuse to play the game. It's just not that important to comment on nearly every site on the internet, especially social media. There is near zero value in it.

3b. Installing Distraction Free YouTube onto Chrome so that I can listen/watch without seeing comments and being tempted to participate. It also hides the related/suggested videos and the front page of YT to prevent falling into in the rabbit hole.

4. Changed my diet to high fat low carb. I'm not insanely strict on the carbs either. It's made a big difference. I wasn't overweight, but now I'm cut/toned without trying because of it (and I'm not huge either). Drinking water helps the transport of nutrients throughout the body.

5. Getting a pair of non-prescription computer glasses. My eyes were severely strained and it was affecting my productivity and ability to think clearly and produced headaches and all sorts of problems. Using them saved my eyes by restricting the blue light that gets to them. I can work 12+ hours straight with no issues if need be now. They also improve sleep quality because blue light late at night triggers the release of cortisol which keeps you up and inhibits sleep.

6. Using Feedly (or any RSS reader). Aggregating content here from the sources you like helps prevent clicking around and roaming websites which leads to lost time. Only click on the stuff that matters to you and ignore the rest. Most can be read in Feedly without going to the site directly as well so you avoid the ads and other distractions.

7. Using Workflowy. I try to implement a modified version of Getting Things Done in there. At minimum, I use it as an ongoing task/to-do list. It's great for just jotting stuff down as it comes to you so you don't forget.

I listened to Drive by Daniel Pink and subsequently started focusing more on "Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose". I was going through a bit of a career crisis (Is my career headed where I want?) and this put a lot of clarity into what I was feeling and wanting that I couldn't figure out before. It had enough impact on my thinking that I bought a couple copies for friends.

Once a week, I fast for 24 hours. There's a number of studies showing the benefits of IF and once a week is easy to commit to.

I have been cycling to work, during my 4.6 km commute, every Friday, for the last three months now. (1) I save about USD 10.00 every Friday: a substantial amount in the part of the world I live in (2) I get off work two hours early on Fridays, so I use this time to explore the city (3) This is a form of exercise for me.

Seated zazen meditation. 10 minutes every morning. Massive improvement to my mood, energy, empathy and productivity.

Every morning in work I spend 30 minutes to 1 hour learning something. It can be directly related to what I'm currently working on, something I know I will need soon or just something I'm interested in. I keep a list of topics in a note in evernote so I always have something to pull from.

Stretching in the evenings. Lower back pain is almost completely gone, range of motion in my neck is expanded.

Shutdown all computers including cell phones after sunset and in w-ends. Constant struggle, well worth it.

I've started fasting lately. I don't eat until about 4pm sometimes later. Gone from about 80 kgs to 76 in a little less than a month. I've struggled for too long removing that extra ugly fat layer and i've finally found something that works for me.

I do it about 3 times a week.

I've started keeping a spreadsheet of things that slow me down or waste time at work. Each time I sense I've wasted time I add an entry describing what the time-suck was and how much time it cost me.

It's been very eye-opening, and a good source of guidance for corrective action.

Read 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.

1. switched to a ketogenic diet 2. one set of 15 reps on 30-lb dumbbells every morning

Down 30 lbs since I started.

Slight tangent: anyone interested in human habits really should read ["The Power of Habit"](http://charlesduhigg.com/the-power-of-habit/)

Got a kettlebell and do a short workout for 15min once per week. On top of that, go to a free, body weight "boot camp" with a handful of friends once per week. Started doing that in February and already feel more energized and healthy.

Started BJJ recently. Good workout, my conditioning and flexibility have noticeably improved, forces you to be 'in the moment', and provides an opportunity to meet cool people. I could go on and on about the returns I've gotten.

Working out everyday (9sets in 30 mins) on a home gym setup. Feels like im progressing daily.

Daily journaling. So i know im actually getting things done even if its just figuring out a hard problem

Writing blog posts and actually using it in conversations.

Going to meetups and meeting new people

An old habit that I recently picked up again.

I add every To Do to an online list, and type notes from every meeting I attend and distribute. It takes a ton off my cognitive load, and dramatically increases the likelihood that people follow up.

Started waking up at the same time every morning (during the week). Builds a foundation for consistency and helps start getting the rest of your day (and the things you want to get done in a day) in order/on track

Getting up earlier and going for a run. I have so much more energy throughout the day now, and I'm actually tired when it's time to go to bed. It's also a lot less hot outside than mid-day or evenings.

I've been recording a video a day (1 second), it makes me be more conscious about finding something meaningful every day, and watching the result at the end of the year is really rewarding.

Waking up a couple of hours before starting my day, instead of just 1.

I recently started taking more bold and hard steps. It was this step that i asked a new role at work.

I now realise that i was some way a pushover at work. Never been that way in my personal life though.

Daily meditation and gym.

I have realized changes take way more time that I ever thought it would. That being said, before long, you are different and a little proud of your better new self.

Capoeira. As someone who doesn't like the gym, the fun mix of capoeira's martial art and self-expression keeps me hooked enough to keep going and stay in shape.

Unless the weather is really bad I go for a run every morning. I don't understand the scientific reason behind it but I feel awake and more ready for focus.

If a task takes < 60 seconds, do it immediately.

started attending more activist-oriented and critical discussion groups or groups dealing with specific local issues in my community (Berlin). While it can feel as though there is a certain amount of depth lacking to many discussions, the trade-off is very community focused and collaborative language which has left me feeling a lot less isolated.

Put on the shelf my iPhone and bought Nokia 150. Productivity is skyrocketing! I still use iPhone, but only couple days a month.

Reading books! History, classics, science fiction. Amazing. People have written some amazing stuff over the years.

turn off internet on my router for 1 hr every evening. Hope to increase this to 2 hrs in a couple of months.

Keeping in touch with people. Related to this, connecting with people with no care whether I get rejected.

Biking to work! Has been three months now and I really enjoy it. Has made me much less stressed overall.

I do a weekly gratitude journal. There is research backing its impact to happiness and I can confirm.

Unsubscribe from every mailing list.

remove all fucking social media accounts - twitter, facebook, internations, etc.(except of HN).

Avoiding alcohol for the month is doing amazing things for my energy levels.

biking. its fun and has health (both mental and physical) benefits. it was tough first few times but now I cant wait any longer than 2 days to jump on my bike for an hour long ride.

Lifting weights.

30 years later than I should have, but better late than never.

Thank you OP, lot's of great things came up in here!

weight lifting 3x a week. the ability to move through life with physical ease is extremely relaxing.

Sobriety... 1 month and 2 days so far

Waking up earlier, sleeping earlier.

Eating only 1 meal per day.

Sleep 9:30 pm. Wake 3:30.

Smoking

Walking the stairs instead of taking the elevator (living at 6 floor). Not as much exercice as I should do but still >0.

I've been setting up ~ 3 masternodes a week. They are literally paying off.