You may have noticed that several of my posts have been placed into a category called “Life Hacks”. This is a term I’ve heard used to describe better methods of doing everyday activities or alternate uses for common objects. I use the term differently, however. I think of a life hack as a tool that gives you a better chance of getting what you want in a particular instance and is probably something that most people either don’t know about or don’t use much. My hope is that this post will spread awareness of life hacks and result in more of you benefiting from using them in your lives.
Most life hacks that I’ve come across involve changing mindsets. Some of these involve changing something about your body. If you’re feeling tired and unmotivated, laying down will exacerbate that feeling and sitting up will reduce it and increase your motivation; standing up will work even better. Going from standing in a slouching fashion to standing up straight will increase your confidence and reduce shyness. Slow, deliberate breathing that makes your stomach expand during the inhale and your shoulders stay in place instead of moving up and down will make you feel more relaxed, relieve stress, and make you speak more slowly and clearly in a slightly lower-pitched voice.
Suppose you have to interact with someone you don’t particularly like. If you enter that situation expecting the worst, you’ll probably get it. There are a few life hacks you can use to make the interaction go more smoothly. An easy one is to do that person a favor. For whatever reason, we tend to see someone in a more positive light if we do them a favor, so this is a great one to start out with. You can also think about the things you like about that person or have in common with them; the more similarities we see between ourselves and someone else, the more we will like them. And if you can start off by talking about or doing things that the other person enjoys, they’ll be in a better mood, which will make it easier for you to get into a good mood as well.
These are some of the life hacks that I’ve come across and used over the last couple of years. I’ve found that they make a big difference when I use them (I don’t always since I sometimes forget and other times my ego prevents me from using them) and I enjoy passing along useful things to other people. Some books that are full of great life hacks are The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, How to Win Friends & Influence People, The Power of Positive Thinking, The Power of Now, The Power of Habit, and How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big. I recommend checking out those if you find this interesting, and I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and found it useful.