Brett
Rants
Simple Tricks
that have improved the
Quality of my Life
Though to be honest,
some just fall into that category of,
I'm sure they would improve my life,
if only if...
In a better world, I'd edit out the you's and replace them with I's, but I am just too lazy, so you'll just have to deal with it. In other words, this is not to be taken as proscriptive advice. The ambiguous third party instructional voice is just so culturally ingrained, it's easier to write.
- Limit the length of TODO lists.
- So, if the list length is ten, before adding an eleventh item, one item needs to be removed, one way or another.
- This tends to focus said list.
- Oh, and this (here) list will neither follow said advice nor is presented in any particular order.
- Do not have a read later (or read someday) pile.
- Cull that crap after a week, he said, having found this list from something like six years ago, you know, hidden in a seldom used corner of his desktop...
- If it's broken, throw it out.
- It and broken, should, perhaps, be interpreted as liberally as possible (excepting small children, cats, and dogs, of course).
- If it hasn't been used in a year, chuck it.
- And things that only get used once a year, I'd recommend buying annually.
- Seriously, why some folks use the same Thanksgiving Turkey year after year is beyond me.
- One memento per person, place, or thing.
- Yeah, the wedding ring covers it all.
- Not that I have either...
- Hey, do you think that's a coincidence?
- You're right, maybe I should have gone along for the ride when she headed off to Vegas. Oh, well, her loss... or, I guess, mine, since I'm the one not sporting a brand spanking new tattoo of an octopus enjoying, um, life to its fullest.
- Desktops, counter space, etc. are work areas.
- Store stuff if cabinets and drawers, that's what they are for.
- Use long names for your computer files.
quality_life_rant_from_decade_old_notes.html
- And then remember, that between directories and the name, you only get like 255 characters.
- On the other hand,
062-life_hack.html will be the final name of this file.
- Use timers.
- You have one minute to complain about me, starting... now.
- Oh, wait, wait! Timer's not on.
- And Buzz!!! Sorry, your time is up.
- Use spreadsheets to track repetitive tasks.
- Thursday: start the weekend, rant about hellishly long work week.
- Same for chores:
- I have different check-lists for different time spans (weekly, monthly)
- I have different check-lists for different projects (work, play)
- Break jobs up
- Embrace imperfection.
- For example, allow unread reports to die a quiet death.
- Two poofreads on a rant is enough.
- Manage your subordinate's career.
- Work on the assumption that if they get promoted you will too; and then, do your best to get them promoted.
- Start new projects slowly.
- Better to stop an hour into a project than a month or a week.
- Countless half written books of mine come to mind.
- So many, I've got a whole section of my site devoted to these Broken Stories.
- Digitalize everything!
- Back that Sch©lte up!
- Speed reading is unto reading as watching a movie in 16x speed is unto, um, er, well, that is to say, watching a movie at 16x speed.
- I find most dramas far more palatable this way.
- Oh, now here's a trick I never did try: to give yourself the motivation to speed read, eat a single potato chip, and then don't let yourself eat another one until you come to the end of each chapter in a book or article in a magazine. You'll be surprised at how fast you can go through something once you are properly motivated to skip pages and not worry about what you have missed.
- Note: this trick should never be employed on any of the pages on my site. Scrolling down too fast has been known to cause... um, whatever that crippling hand injury from scrolling down too fast on websites is called.
- Or from me just slapping your hand and warning you to take your time. 'We'll all be happier if you do.'
- Check mail once a week.
- Snail, electronic, whatever.
- Eighty percent is good enough.
- Don't try to perfect things or dial them in too tightly. If everything has to be 'just so' for things to work properly, they never will.
- Think about throwing it away, if the only thing you do is clean it.
- Eh, so many like this, blank-blank, throw it away, maybe just throw it away if the concept of throwing it away doesn't seem like a collosal mistake.
- Pay yourself for working on your next self improvement habit.
- In cash, ice cream, whatever it takes.
- Once it's second nature, time to move on.
- Consume the basics, buy simple food types.
- Tomatoes are better than salsa.
- Corn is better than tortilla chips.
- Cows are better than fillet Mignon.
- Or, you know, use some common sense... which means, what I would do, so, yeah, Tomatoes, Corn, Cows, if you're wanting fajitas tonight.
- In other news, someday that barbecue sauce of mine is going to make me rich.
- Or chili, I make a mean chili con gloppe, if I do say so myself, which, in the end, is the whole point of a blog, so I have and I will, say so myself: chili con gloppe, mine, top of the list.
- Kill those collections.
- Actually, I'm such a minimalist, maybe it's not such good advice.
- I mean, I don't own a house, can live out of a suitcase, happy to sleep on your couch for a week, a month, or a year to save on apartment rent.
- I've seen some cool collections in my time (yeah, mostly from a recumbent sort of view, situated more or less on the couch), so, go for it. Owning it, however, is not for me.
- Decorations are that which get moved only when they get dusted.
- Yeah, that's right. Out the door.
- Or, you know, in my ever so freak'n humble opinion, most folks have way (way-way-way) too many of these.
- Decorate your home like it's a museum.
- Living day to day in your own legacy, how cool is that?
- If you're not making money, you're losing money.
- Though, by the same token, if you're not losing money, you're making money.
- So, really, make up your mind.
- Finally, eat right!
- IMO, there are two main types of food: the good stuff (sauces, meat, cheese, and butter) and filler (bread, pasta, potatoes, and rice).
- i.e. use salads and vegetables as the filler.
- Seriously, I may have missed some key category in this list, so if I did, just remember: more good, less bad.
- Unfortunately, do to time constraints, I am unable to elaborate on the nature of either Good or Evil.
- Perhaps, I'll get to it in my next rant...
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So, really, just to play it safe
I should probably chuck those TODO lists
while throwing out everything else...
© copyright 2016 Brett Paufler
paufler.net@gmail.com
Oh, right, almost forgot,
DISCLAIMER
nothing on this page is to be taken as advice,
it's humour (hopefully)
and notes to myself
.
Please review any lifestyle changes
with your fully licensed
LIFESTYLE COACH
prior to making any improvements.