Favorite Life Hacks ~ What Are They?

[AroundTheWorld]

In another thread, @IceCreamKid posted a link to the picture of a brain after a 20 minute walk.

And, he mentioned that @AllenCrawley has the scoop on bulletproof coffee. What in the heck is that? I've never heard of it?

This isn't really a hack, but practicing Yoga does wonders for my brain. I have more energy and can think more clearly after a Yoga session.

What Are Your Favorite Life Hacks?

 

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[snowbank]

I am literally 5-10x more productive when I write myself a detailed schedule the night before for the following day.

 

[CarrieW]

its not hack... the only things that get my head straight and back to focus is good loud music and driving... I cant drive much anymore since the car accident but the music I will have forever!

 

[IceCreamKid]

My favorite life hacks:

1. Get up early at 4 or 5am and immediately start working on the hardest task of the day. Accomplishing it gives me a sense of forward momentum that stays for the rest of the day. DO NOT EAT HEAVY CARBS while working or else your insulin in your blood will spike, thus calling you feel tired and slow. I try to eat super lean when I want to get a lot of work done.
   
2. Towards late afternoon I probably feel tired or sluggish so I'll go out for a quick walk. This gives me a sense of renewed energy. It feels GREAT.
3. 10pm go out for a drink. I can't be switched onto business 24/7 so the pint of beer or glass of wine is my ritual for simply releasing stressed energy. Getting out and feeling that crisp Cali air is energizing too.

I think becoming more aware of energy levels and mental clarity was when productivity started to skyrocket.

 

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[AllenCrawley]

Bulletproof Coffee is responsible for kickstarting 6 out of every 7 of my mornings.

Basically it's organic wet processed coffee beans course ground in a french press. After a few minutes I add MCT oil and butter from grass-fed cows. Blend it using a Magic Bullet until it's frothy.

I was not a coffee drinker prior to bulletproof coffee but I absolutely love this stuff as does my wife.

This coffee is like being drip fed energy all day long. I don't get the usual spike of energy one gets after drinking "regular" coffee followed shortly thereafter by a crash. Rather the energy is sustained throughout the day.

It helps with focus and mental clarity.

I know @Likwid24, @Red, @theag (and maybe @MarkNNelson) drinks it pretty consistently. Maybe they can chime in as well.

More info:
http://www.bulletproofexec.com/bulletproof-coffee-recipe/
http://www.bulletproofexec.com/bulletproof-coffee-mistakes-butter-coffee-fatty-coffee-and-more/
http://www.bulletproofexec.com/announcement-cognitive-study-with-bulletproof-coffee/
http://www.bulletproofexec.com/one-ugly-mug-the-science-behind-just-one-mold-toxin-in-your-coffee/

 

[IAmTheJeff]

Bulletproof Coffee is responsible for kickstarting 6 out of every 7 of my mornings.

Basically it's organic wet processed coffee beans course ground in a french press. After a few minutes I add MCT oil and butter from grass-fed cows. Blend it using a Magic Bullet until it's frothy.

I was not a coffee drinker prior to bulletproof coffee but I absolutely love this stuff as does my wife.

This coffee is like being drip fed energy all day long. I don't get the usual spike of energy one gets after drinking "regular" coffee followed shortly thereafter by a crash. Rather the energy is sustained throughout the day.

It helps with focus and mental clarity.

I know @Likwid24, @Red, @theag (and maybe @MarkNNelson) drinks it pretty consistently. Maybe they can chime in as well.

More info:
http://www.bulletproofexec.com/bulletproof-coffee-recipe/
http://www.bulletproofexec.com/bulletproof-coffee-mistakes-butter-coffee-fatty-coffee-and-more/
http://www.bulletproofexec.com/announcement-cognitive-study-with-bulletproof-coffee/
http://www.bulletproofexec.com/one-ugly-mug-the-science-behind-just-one-mold-toxin-in-your-coffee/

I'm soooooo doing this tomorrow instead of Dunkin Donuts

 

[Magik]

The best hack I have found is elimination, which is more of an act and a process, than a hack. This means eliminating people who are negative. This means moving to a new location if your current location no longer serves you. This means getting rid of pointless crap that takes up too much space. This means to stop doing things that waste time and retract from your focus. Elimination is the single best tool I have found for getting more done. It's where the entire time management process starts.

 

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[Magik]

Oh, I forgot about my secret weapon: B complex timed release. B vitamins are the main ingredients in 5 hour energy, this stuff, combined with the kava I take, has had a profound effect on focus and calming anxiety. I also take tons of other vitamins: vitamin c timed release, amino complex, complex omega, vitamin D and E, zinc, and kava kava.

 

[spoonerism]

Bulletproof Coffee is responsible for kickstarting 6 out of every 7 of my mornings.

Basically it's organic wet processed coffee beans course ground in a french press. After a few minutes I add MCT oil and butter from grass-fed cows. Blend it using a Magic Bullet until it's frothy.

I was not a coffee drinker prior to bulletproof coffee but I absolutely love this stuff as does my wife.

This coffee is like being drip fed energy all day long. I don't get the usual spike of energy one gets after drinking "regular" coffee followed shortly thereafter by a crash. Rather the energy is sustained throughout the day.

It helps with focus and mental clarity.

I know @Likwid24, @Red, @theag (and maybe @MarkNNelson) drinks it pretty consistently. Maybe they can chime in as well.

More info:
http://www.bulletproofexec.com/bulletproof-coffee-recipe/
http://www.bulletproofexec.com/bulletproof-coffee-mistakes-butter-coffee-fatty-coffee-and-more/
http://www.bulletproofexec.com/announcement-cognitive-study-with-bulletproof-coffee/
http://www.bulletproofexec.com/one-ugly-mug-the-science-behind-just-one-mold-toxin-in-your-coffee/

I also swear by this stuff and I know exactly what you mean by the energy drip. I bought a Magic Bullet last week for the sole purpose of blending my butter/oil blend. Sometimes I use a little heavy cream and a tablespoon of sugar if I'm feeling generous.

 

[LIkeafox]

I also swear by this stuff and I know exactly what you mean by the energy drip. I bought a Magic Bullet last week for the sole purpose of blending my butter/oil blend. Sometimes I use a little heavy cream and a tablespoon of sugar if I'm feeling generous.

What kind of coffee beans do y'all use to make this? Do you go with their beans or does any good single origin bean work?

 

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[AllenCrawley]

There is a local roaster close by that has organic wet processed beans from Peru and Nicaragua. I've tried the bulletproof brand and like it but did not notice any difference whatsoever when compared to what I buy locally.

 

[SteveO]

I prefer clean living. Reasonably healthy eating, exercise to the extreme, good sleep schedule. I agree with the early to rise routine.

No alcohol, caffeine, and minimal sugar.

Live in the moment and don't worry about past or future. Do what you want (hopefully, you want to make money).

 

[ruzara5]

I do interval training for up to 45 minutes at the gym. It energizes me and I feel more alert and balanced throughout my day I started out doing it a minimum 2 days a week now I do it up to 5 days a week. It also helps in my 2 mile kayak paddle event.

 

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[smartman]

i have a rule of 10 that I follow each day. ten things on my list each day, never more, rarely less. don't feel like washing the dishes? well, get off your a$$ and wash 10 of them, then you can go back to being lazy. The thing is, once you're on your feet and your hands are already wet, you finish your ten dishes, look at the other 8 that you didn't get to, and wash those as well since you're already there. Part of me wants to write a little book about it to pass out to people I know that can't get out of their own way, but another part of me realizes that the last thing the world needs is another a**hole telling people just to show up and do something with their life.

 

[Gsuz]

Cool thread.

A few things I do daily + benefit for me

1. Getting up at 5am.

Benefit: More energy and way better focus, because everything is so quiet and calm in the morning. Feels great to get things done, look at the clock and it's only 10am, gives a feeling of really owning the day.

2. Cold showers.

Benefit: Wakes you up like no other, gets the blood flowing, gets me hyped up, because once you withstand => personal THIS IS SPARTA moment in the shower.

3. Meditation.

Benefit: Calms my mind, I used to be very racy in my thoughts, now I have more control about the voice in my head which allows me to focus on the task at hand.

4. If something doesn't take longer than 2 minutes to do, do it right away.

Benefit: Small tasks like doing the dishes, putting newspapers in the trash etc. don't add up and you get them out of your mind instead of constantly reminding yourself that you still need to do it.

5. Notebook

Benefit: I do have a notebook where I just note whatever comes to my mind, especially ideas and quotes from books. This works as some kind of brain dump and is a great way to look up noteworthy things from certain books without having to read them again.

6. OneNote

Benefit: Really neat piece of software by Microsoft, you can create notebooks and fill them with all kinds of content, articles, pdfs, images, videos, audio recordings, it syncs with all devices, integrates nicely into the Office suite (spreadsheets and Visio) and the free version has like 7 GB or so of storage.

I started using it, because often I'd find articles or videos on specific topics that I know would come in handy at some point of time.
Initially I saved all of them into different folders inside of my browser's bookmarks, but it started to get very cluttered and disorganized.

That's when I started to create different notebooks inside of OneNote to keep track of all those things. Let's say you create a notebook named business where you collect all the information on business, you then create different segments for mindset, ecommerce, marketing. You can then create different pages within these segments and really narrow it down to ecommerce > importing > fees for example.

Another cool feature is the use of tags which allow you to assign certain tags to a note you create. Say you'd be saving noteworthy quotes by MJ, but he has advice on fitness, importing and breakfast recipes. You could then assign the tag "MJ" to every note based on MJ's advice and then create a summary page which automatically pulls all the notes with the tag MJ and displays them on one site.

 

[bane]

Forcing Smiles
if you are feeling not happy. force yourself to smile.
Put your biggest smile on your face right now and try to feel sad. It's kinda hard.

State Changes with Funny Videos
Also, after I graduated University and was applying for Jobs, I created a video of my favourite parts of the Eddie Murphy movie Delirious and watched them 5-10 mins prior to my interviews to change my state into the super positive.

 

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[randomnumber314]

Go to the gym first thing in the morning, just do it. Work out HARD. I don't do cardio, I just lift until I'm out of breath and covered in sweat. Shower in a cool shower.

This sets the mood for the entire day. Task to hard? No such thing, you just deadlifted 600lbs (well, maybe)

Drink a couple of glasses (or more) of cold water first hour of the day. I don't eat until lunch, and I eat light healthy meals. Another life tip, grill 5 chicken breasts sunday night. Buy some frozen vegetables that can be microwaved. You now have lunch that you can quickly partition each morning, quickly warm up, and quickly eat--and it's cheap--and it's healthy.

I don't drink coffee, if I need a pick-me-up I drink a Yerba Mate (pronounced matay) and find it's a better energy rush, and there's no crash.

I currently sit behind a computer all day (this will change soon) if I start getting sluggish or stuck I stand up and walk out the door. If I can chat up a stranger in the hall it's even better. I always find that I return to the task with a refreshed brain and and better plan of action.

 

[spoonerism]

What kind of coffee beans do y'all use to make this? Do you go with their beans or does any good single origin bean work?

I actually don't use bulletproof coffee because I also can't taste a difference. I'm in Kansas City, so the roasterie is good when I want some awesome beans, but most of the time I just find some K-cups that taste okay. When I get the butter and oil blended in the coffee I can't taste or feel any difference.

 

[MarkNNelson]

Bulletproof Coffee is responsible for kickstarting 6 out of every 7 of my mornings.

Yup, I tried it for a while. The effects were great, but I had a mental problem with it that I ultimately couldn't get around. I want coffee in the morning. Black, hot, diner coffee. So I wouldn't use the "c" word, I'd just try to psych myself up for my "warm smoothie". A lot of people love the taste, and I recall Allen being one of them. I'm not.

Ultimately, I played around and got the same benefits (clarity, energy, satiety) from what I find a more palatable alternative: 2T potato starch in cold water (google "resistant starch" for info), couplethree strips of bacon, black coffee and a few fish oil caps.

Cold showers.

+1 on that one. Takes some getting used to, but it's good once you do.

 

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[johnp]

.

Bulletproof Coffee is responsible for kickstarting 6 out of every 7 of my mornings.

I started drinking this on Sunday. It's now Thursday.

I hate coffee. For the last 4 years I have forced myself to drink a cup of light roasted coffee filled with cream. But it also makes me feel sick..prob all of the cream. so after seeing this bullet proof thing, I realized that I had to give it a try.

Honestly, it looks like a big marketing gimmick to me. But whatever. I ordered the stuff and tried it on Sunday for the first time...

I made is EXACTLY as instructed.

First sip...I almost puked all over my wife. It had a weird tangy taste that I could not get past. The butter and MCT oil made it taste like a cup of oil and I didn't put too much in..i also can't stand the taste of butter. I suffer from STBD..Sensitive taste bud disorder.

My wife.. WeLL... she likes butter way more than me. She dumped it down the sink.

At first I was mad at myself for getting sucked into the gimmick. But later I decided to give it one more try. I cut the butter serving in half and it tasted better..well at least better than normal coffee.

I'm still not a huge fan of the taste, but I have noticed that it is much better on me than other coffees. My mind feels more clear, I feel in the zone, and I think that it may have helped with a stomach problem that I developed over the years (prob as a result of coffee in the first place). So it does seem to work...

Or it could all be a combo of placebo and sun light..

 

[AllenCrawley]

At first I was mad at myself for getting sucked into the gimmick. But later I decided to give it one more try. I cut the butter serving in half and it tasted better..well at least better than normal coffee.

Not everyone likes the taste and since you have STBD I can understand your reaction to it. However, for clarity, I have three questions.

Butter from grass-fed cows? I asked because anything other is nasty. Kerrygold is the way to go.

Organic wet-processed beans? Anything other gives me heartburn and upset stomach.

How much butter and mct did you originally use?

 

[johnp]

It's natural unsalted butter. I actually am not sure if it's grass fed. The butter has a pic of cows eating grass but that means nothing haha. I got it from trader joes. I couldn't find any butter that stated grass fed on the box. So maybe that's the problem.

I used the bullet proof beans. They seem way too expensive though.

Originally I did 2 table spoons of butter. Then I cut it down to half a table spoon. Now I'm doing about 1.5 table spoons and that seems to work. I also used about 1 teaspoon of MCT to start and now I'm using 2 table spoons of MCT. Maybe my butter to MCT ratio is off? I just can't put anymore butter into it though. I have pretty much have maintained only a small amount of butter in my diet over the last 26 years, so even 1 table spoon feels like a lot.

 

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[AllenCrawley]

Get Kerrygold unsalted. It say's right on the packaging "Milk from Grass-fed Cows". TraderJoe's sells it.
http://kerrygoldusa.com/products/butter/unsalted-butter/

I get my coffee from a local roaster. It meets the qualifications for 'bulletproof' coffee - organic, wet processed, single estate from central america. $11 per pound.

Also, the bulletproof brand is actually white-labeled from these guys:
http://shop.portlandroasting.com/

Yea, 2 TBS of butter is too much starting out. I had to work my way up to that. I also started with one TBS of MCT but now up to 4 TBS.

 

[workingtitle]

Wake up earlier than you normally do. Accomplish something (anything) while others are sleeping. That momentum will carry you through the day.

Hydrate properly (close to a gallon a day). Eat enough food (we usually don't). Vitamins. Exercise every day.

STRETCH. STRETCH. STRETCH. Some form of Yoga or Pilates will do more for you than you can possible imagine. Flexible body, Flexible mind.

When something comes to your mind that you need to do, DO IT IMMEDIATELY. Don't think about it, just do it. Thinking takes more energy than doing. That small little burst of accomplishment will fuel your next task throughout the day.

Try to do one positive thing outside of your comfort zone every day. The things that make you think "Oh that's not for me. That's for other people." "I can't do that. Are you crazy?" That thing. Do it.

Masturbate less. I'm sorry to be crude, but if this is you, don't make a comment, just do it less.

Allow yourself to feel your emotions. Don't try to bury them or hide them. If you need to cry, then cry. Who sees you? Nobody. If you need to scream, scream into a pillow. A breakdown? Do it in the shower. You'll always feel better afterwards.

Realize you control your own reality. If you believe you can do something, you will. You don't, you won't. Your mind is the lens through which you see the world. Force yourself to believe things that are positive, even if you don't. Lie to yourself. Eventually positive lies will become truths. "Fake it till you make it" includes positivity.

Most importantly...

Remember every day that nobody will come rescue you. Not your parents, not your spouse, not your friends, not your kids, not this forum, and not God. You and ONLY you are in charge of your own life. Currently successful? Better pick yourself up before it gets worse. Fallen on hard times? Better pick yourself up before it gets worse. Homeless? Better pick yourself up before it gets worse.

You're either getting better or you're getting worse. There is no such thing as stagnation.

If you keep these few things in mind throughout your day, every day, and like MJ says develop a PROCESS of successful action (implying consistency and commitment) you will have "hacked" your life.

If you're supposed to do something, and you don't, for ANY reason, you lack the necessary commitment to succeed. Excuses don't exist in the real world. Excuses imply you're explaining yourself to someone. Remember what I said above? Nobody is going to come rescue you. Therefore you have nobody to explain yourself to and no use for excuses. "Do or Do not. There is no try." "The only thing standing between you and your success is the bullshit story you tell yourself as to why you can't achieve it".

How many more quotes do you need?

 

[AMS]

Life hacks? I don't know if I have any of those...hopefully I will after reading this thread.

But along the lines of increased energy that seems to be pretty common ITT, taking fucoidan regularly for a few weeks now and I've never felt better. Body feels cleaner and more energized, no more mental fog.

 

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[Rawr]

This...http://www.engineering.com/Jobs/JobArticles/ArticleID/5869/Battle-of-Brain-ville.aspx it works. Accomplish something small to jump start the thing you need to to do.

Example - I email my editor or write out a quick chapter plot before writing.

 

[Greg Bastin]

Here are some easy actions that require minimal effort to deliver maximum results, “the low hanging fruit.”

It's not what most people think of: sugar, protein, calories, working out, or vegetables. It's about fixing the things that are broken right now!

Many people are deficient in one or many nutrients. Correcting the most common deficiencies shows immediate benefits.

1 - Correct omega 3 deficiencies (omega 3 fatty acids, grass fed beef, fish oil...)

2 - Balance gut bacteria (pre/probiotics, fermented foods...)

 

[FionaS]

My life hacks:

Bulletproof Coffee (I haven't done MCT oil, just butter, but it is great)
Working out regularly
Plan the next day the night before
Eat Paleo (or close to it) and avoid gluten (that, more than anything else, makes me useless for days)

 

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[Daniel A]

This free software came to mind: https://justgetflux.com/

"Ever notice how people texting at night have that eerie blue glow?

Or wake up ready to write down the Next Great Idea, and get blinded by your computer screen?

During the day, computer screens look good—they're designed to look like the sun. But, at 9PM, 10PM, or 3AM, you probably shouldn't be looking at the sun.

f.lux
f.lux fixes this: it makes the color of your computer's display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day.

It's even possible that you're staying up too late because of your computer. You could use f.lux because it makes you sleep better, or you could just use it just because it makes your computer look better."

 

[CarrieW]

I am happy to see a lot of people eating well here

we made big changes in our diets here but lately have been slacking... definitely time to get back on track...

I am getting ready to cut gluten and white sugar soon. it is slightly harder when there are more people involved LOL they all know we should do it, but it still difficult... I personally love food... I don't think I can ever give up certain things totally, but in the end its like the cigarettes were. I loved them too, once upon a time... I think my hometown pizza is more addicting then the Marlboros were tho LOL
everytime I go home I fall off the wagon I cant resist!