If you can’t find the motivation to start doing a lengthy task (like cleaning the house, gardening, or working on a project), force yourself to do it only for 30 minutes. It’s not an unreasonably long time. By the end, you’ll either have gained enough momentum to keep going and finish it, or if not, you’ve still made 30 minutes of progress.
I’ve heard this called the ‘dirty 30’. It works. Whatever needs cleaning up or tidying, 30 minutes is just short enough to not feel like you’re using all your free time on chores, but long enough to make a real dent. Especially if your partner either helps with the same task or does a different one. Setting a timer can help and you start to almost frantically see how much you can get done. I like that competitive element even against myself.
As someone with ADHD, I’m all about the 5 minute timer.
If I spend 0 minutes cleaning my kitchen, I will clean 0% of my kitchen. But if I set a 5 minute timer, I’ll almost always completely finish whatever cleaning I needed to do.
I like how you’re accepting longer tasks as well. What I’ve read typically is like “if a long task is dumb, get into the grind spirit by working a tiny task first and using that momentum”.
Your suggestion is to just ‘dip your toe into’ the longer task as a taste test. I like that. And I have so many longer tasks to do.
Organizing tasks in pomodoros (which is really close to your method), is a great way to do things.
Toilet roll under if you have a cat or pet who likes to rip off bits of them.
Toilet roll over for everything else.
My cats: TOILET ROLL UNDER CANNOT STOP ME
Or just install a door on your bathroom and hang the toilet roll over.
Be rich. Makes everything so much easier.
Solves being poor 100% of the time!
Budget. Don’t need to be fancy. But build a view on the things that you’ll need to pay for over the year (Christmas, birthdays, holidays, car service, boiler service etc) and actually put money aside every month to pay for those things. Nothing beats the adult feeling of “yes, I’ll just pay for this thing here from this envelope and done”.
And if you’re uncertain about the exact numbers always overestimate costs and underestimate income.
Once you’ve lathered up in the shower, throw some of that lather on the chrome in the shower then rinse it off just before you get out. Clean chrome, every day, without doing much.
Listen, don’t interrupt a conversation with stuff about you. Take the time to listen to them and ask questions, it goes a long way.
I have a lot of trouble with this, I guess issues with egocentrism. For me, listening is trying to understand their perspective, and picturing how I would see things from where they are standing very often wraps around to finding an experience that I’ve had, or things that I understand, that are analogous. Those things help me get a better grip on what this person is saying. I haven’t really found a way around this, when I really try to not inject my own anecdotes I end up not really contributing much substance and often not following as well, and I feel like a much worse listener because of that.
As I’ve grown older I’ve realized that I’ve always had some trouble with auditory processing in general, so interjecting is a way I can slow down the conversation before I get lost and make sure I’m still on track.
I’ve started to have such a massive problem around this one lately. I’m a good, maybe even great listener, and when I’m with another good listener, some real nice and deep conversations emerge, which I really treasure.
The problem is that the amount of other good listeners around me has shrunk to nearly no one, and I feel myself completely squeezed out of every conversation I engage in. Even a one-on-one dialogue can turn into a monologue where I’m not able to fit in more than a syllable here and there.It’s really deteriorating my self esteem and level of happiness. Really feels like not even my closest friends and family give a shit about any part of my life or my person.
Just the same used to happen to me. Then I started to take charge of my life.
I learn to say no. I throw away people making only noises. I cut all the craps from my life. Alone and contented, I am much better than my past. And when i do find good listeners, there is some significant talk.
You also need to make some short witty satirical comments in between, to shake them, like Mark Twain’s.
Never leave without an appointment. When doing routine things like the dentist or yearly car inspection make the next appointment on your way out. If booking your next dentist visit 6 months out you get your choice of any time you like. Just stick it in your calendar and move on.
The only time that voice doesn’t work is if the people you’re making an appointment with only schedule out a certain time in advance and you need to go out longer. The cardiologist office I go to only ever lets you schedule 6 months in advance and I gotta go yearly, so I don’t have that luxury.
If you have to deal frequently with toilets with flush sensors at your office (or really any public restroom), you’ve probably been grossed out by them flushing (and spraying water at you) before you’re ready.
As an adult, I learned that handle-adjacent sensors can be dealt with by hanging TP over them, and won’t flush until you remove it as you’re leaving the stall. Wall sensors (like one infamous office toilet I deal with) can be handled with a post it note placed over the sensor; I keep some at the office just for this purpose. In an emergency, sometimes spit-dabbing a piece of TP can stick it to the wall over the sensor, but this isn’t as reliable.
Just get into these habits when you use sensor toilets, and you’ll never have to worry about disgusting flush spray from prematurely flushing public toilets ever again.
Genius! Thanks
Except for special cases, you don’t actually have to do a task fully. You can pick at it as you go.
For example, i almost never do all the dishes at once. I just do 1-2 when i pass by the kitchen and i have a minute or two to spare. Without even realizing it or barely feel the energy or the time used, the task is either done or it is much smaller and more manageable.
This can apply to most adulting tasks by my experience.
If you can optimise those by doing small task while waiting, e.g. when the microwave/oven is running, while you’re watching TV etc. then you can effectively do chores without losing time as well
Plus it makes it feel like a game, kinda. I hate doing the dishes, but can I finish before the pot boils over? I load folding laundry but can I do it before my show is over? Etc
This is a good one!
I found this out when i had cancer and taking care of the kids. No time for making extra time for tasks; so combining was a necessity. waking up, bring the laundry basket down the hall to the kitchen, make breakfast for kids, when going to the garage to take the kids to school bring basket on the way to laundry room. Getting home toss laundry in. when heading out to pick kids up switch them to the dryer. come back bring basket off dried stuff back in to room. Other stuff like fold towels while sitting on toilet.
Gg on beating that cancer <3
I had an awesome team of GP, Surgeon, Oncologist, dentistry, coordinators radiologists, nurses, ENT, porters, etc people in Lower Mainland BC. People complain about healthcare here, but when you are legit sick, they work fast and focused.
Mise en place really helps my adhd brain with cooking. Prepping while managing the stovetop stresses me out unless it’s during a long simmer.
Get a vpn and torrent to your hearts content. The subscription services are too fractured. I’ve got Jellyfin, audiobookshelf, and mealie self hosted
If you want a rower go with the concept2. It’s the gold standard for indoor rower and they hold their value. I prefer going moderate effort long distance because then that time can be doubled up as audiobook/tv time
Edit: Besides exercise, which would ideally be a mix of cardio and strength work, make stretching a part of your routine. At least a few times a week. I mainly target the hamstrings and hip flexors
I mainly target the hamstrings and hip flexors
Hip mobility is a bigger issue as you leave East Asia and go to America. It’s like on a scale from America to Asia, check your flexibility – and you want ‘Asia’-class flexibility. America is not only fat, but also we can’t bend to actually save our lives.
It not too late to learn a new skill or pick up a new hobby. If you hear of something that sounds fun, dive in!
Save & invest 50% of your paycheck for 10 years, and you could technically retire (as long as your cost base does not go up).
You can, if you can. I think most people can’t do that though.
The better lesson would be to teach compound interest. Somebody that invests $2k every year for 10 years and then stops will have more money than somebody who starts in year 11 and does so for the rest of their life.
That’s sort of the point I was trying to make with an example, but it appears it fell flat. Compound interest and resisting lifestyle inflation, can really help people in the long-run.
Why don’t you save All the money you’ve earned?
If I didn’t eat, I’d have money to burn!
Check yo privilege
50%??💀
i like these threads; it shows how disconnected from reality some of us are.
It’s easy, just stop paying rent and eating.
as long as your cost base does not go up
Inflation and greedflation would like a word.
Inflation
That’s what the investing is for isn’t it?
So if the investment is for inflation, what are you going to survive from?
Historically, investing in a broad-market index fund has seen 8-12% annual returns. Average inflation in the US has been around 2-3%. Subtract another 3-4% for taxes, and you’re still making at least 3%.
Anyways, the point is more about the fact how powerful saving & compounding is. Save early in life, and try to not inflate your lifestyle too much, and then you can technically reach financial independence.
You call 3% significant gains? I mean it’s better than nothing, but i don’t think it’s going to be worth breaking one’s neck over
I’m not sure anyone called it significant gains?
Anyways, 50% is really just an example to show what can be possible through saving & investing. Saving any amount of money, at a regular rate, can quickly become more than you think, when compounding is in play.
If you can set aside 50 % of your money, you are already independent.
No, independent would mean you could cease that source of income and maintain your lifestyle. If you save 50% of your first paycheck and then quit I doubt that would be the case.
Being able to set that much aside would definitely make one wealthy (or live a very austere lifestyle) and fast track them toward independence, but it’s not an automatic qualifier.
I was able to do that for a few years bit I was living with my parents and paying them a pittance for rent. Certainly not independent. All my expenses shot up when I left but I was able to pay a lot of my loans off before that.
Past performance is no guarantee of future gains
Agreed, no investment can be guaranteed. However, average return of s&p 500 over 100 years has been 10%. Average return of an example index-fund, VTI, since inception in 2001 has been around 8%.
I’m of the opinion that the stock market is overvalued right now, mainly pumped up by tech stocks which are overvalued due to AI hype. I can’t help but think eventually all the baby boomers are going to want to cash out and enjoy their invested money while they’re still alive.
But on another note, do you expect the stock market to perpetually trend up? I suppose inflation helps keep stock prices up because the dollar is worth less than before.
Just 50%?
Save & invest 50% of your paycheck
So, we eat cake, then? Tell us again how to isolate that 50% when so many people are food-insecure at 0% saved.
Doesn’t have to be 50%, that’s merely an example to illustrate the power of compounding & resisting lifestyle creep. If you take anything away, it’s to try to save & invest what you can, as young as you can, and to resist the urge to “keep up with the Joneses”. That will put you in a much healthier financial position. I don’t know your situation, and you don’t know mine.
Dunno if that will work in every country, but in Brazil, an easy way to get a discount for your home internet is calling and asking to cancel your line. They will offer a deal. I’ve heard, but have not tried myself, that if you refuse this first offer, they will later attempt a second, better offer.
Learn internet pirating skills. Nowadays it’s mostly about knowing which sites can be trusted and having patience. Or just download telegram and look for channels and groups, I suspect it’s a lower risk of being caught even in the USA without a VPN, though that may change soon.
Do some 10-15 second stretches often, every 2-4 hours or so. Can help with localized pains and in keeping them away. Physiotherapy and all that.
On the discount thing…my dad tried it once. “I’d like to cancel my subscription, too expensive.”, my dad said. The guy told him to hold a second and then came with the date the cable guy come to take it all out. It wasn’t Internet, though
If you want something, ask for it. A raise? A date ? Help? Advice? Wanna do something else in your company? Need a sport buddy?
90% of times the reason one does get what they want is because they don’t ask.
I asked and got all the above… Well the date not on first try 😅
As a person who manages people, I cannot fight for your raise if YOU don’t fight for your raise.
I cannot tell you how many times where something like this happens. I tell my higher ups, “Sarah should get promoted and increase her salary” and then my bosses go up to Sarah and she responds all limpdick like, “I like my job and I’m happy.”
God damn it Sarah! Flex a little. Talk about how you see a opening you want. Stop being a keyboard warrior on Work Reform and actually SAY IT OUT LOUD. Share your wins! Brag about your value to the company. Demand your worth to MY BOSSES TOO.
It’s not a single person who makes these decisions. It’s multiple people.
Nobody is going to hand you shit if you’re timid about it.
Don’t be fat
Also don’t not be not fat
Also don’t not be not fat
Guys, tetris agrees with above guy…count the negatives…
oh they know, they just think the humour is weak
