Recently, I explained how little things in life can make a big difference very quickly. After all, life changes don’t need to come from major events — changing careers, moving countries, etc. instead, it’s often the simple changes we make that gradually create a powerful impact over time.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
— Leonardo da Vinci
Here are ten more tiny things that can massively enhance your life from your physical health, mental performance, relationships, and so much more:
1. Avoid Your Phone In The Morning
76% of people check their phone within 30 minutes of waking up. While it might seem like an innocent peek, it’s one of the worst things you can do if you want to be productive, creative, and motivated.
Seeing things like emails or messages puts you in a state of reaction, impairs your focus, and floods your mind with tasks (and stresses) before you even started your day. Worse, this info clutters your mind so you can’t be fully present. (In fact, having your phone near you uses your brainpower to avoid it.) Checking notifications even makes your brain release dopamine, which can make checking your phone into an actual addiction.
Avoid your phone for an hour after you wake up. (The longer, the better.) Keep it off or on Airplane Mode so you don’t feel compelled to look.
2. No Electronics Before Bed
90% of Americans use electronics before bed, which is terrible for your sleep: The bright light from TVs, phones, and computers affects your circadian rhythm, reduces deep sleep, and prevents your mind from unwinding.
Limit your use of electronics one hour before going to bed. If you really need to use them, install an app like f.lux that reduces the blue light from your screen. Also, set your phone on Airplane Mode or Do Not Disturb to block notifications so you don’t feel the urge to check them before sleep.
3. Blackout Shades
After staying in 50+ Airbnbs, I’ve noticed most have terrible sleep hygiene. The bedrooms have too much light pollution from outside, which hurts sleep quality, especially the REM kind.
If you want better sleep, make your bedroom super dark by investing in 100% blackout shades. If you’d rather not install them (or your windows don’t permit them), buy a good sleep mask—one big enough to block light from seeping around the edges.
Trust me; once you do, it might be your best night of sleep in a long time.
4. Ditch Old Clothes
I’ve been living out of a tiny carry-on suitcase for almost 2 straight years of travel now, and I love it. The less I own, the more I have.
If you have a closet packed with clothes you haven’t worn in ages, get rid of them. It might be hard at first, but you’ll soon feel liberated donating, selling, or tossing them.
It’s not just the physical space; it’s mental space too. There’s less clutter, less stress, and less decision fatigue. Now, you have more space, more peace, and more purpose behind everything you own.
It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.
— Bruce Lee
5. Sunscreen
At the risk of sounding like a Baz Luhrmann song, “the long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists.” Meanwhile, sun damage is the biggest danger to your skin and causes a lot of health problems.
I started wearing sunscreen daily about eight years ago and I never looked back. In LA, it was essential to protect my skin from the endless sunny days and, in Denver, from the high elevation.
Wear sunscreen on your face and other exposed areas like your arms and neck. (Don’t forget your ears.)
6. Meditation
Daily meditation can boost how you cope with adversity and your overall wellbeing while lowering stress, anxiety, pain, depression, and more.
Meditation won’t, however, make you blissfully happy or eliminate negative emotions forever. It’s just a practice. It’s not about “making” something happen or “achieving” something; it’s about being present and aware of your thoughts, emotions, and patterns. Once you do, good things can happen.
When I finish meditating, my mind always feels calmer and quieter and the world feels more still. That’s why I do it every day—I can’t afford not to.
7. Rehydrate After Waking Up
We all know we should drink plenty of water, but one tiny thing that helped me build this habit was to drink a big glass of water right after getting up. I learned this from Nate Green over 12 years ago and I’ve been doing it since.
The idea is that upon waking up, you haven’t had fluids for many hours. By drinking a lot of water immediately, you can rehydrate yourself quickly, get your body and metabolism working optimally, and even boost your mental performance.
8. Notes
Occasionally, we try to remember something for later—a shopping list, a phone number, an idea, etc.—but the odds are we forget. And even if we don’t, we tax our working memory and waste mental energy trying to remember.
Instead, just write it down or record it on your phone so you can outsource your memory to your environment and let your mind do more important things. (This is super helpful if you randomly think of something before bed.)
The palest ink is more powerful than the strongest memory.
— Chinese proverb
9. Diverse Friends
Having diverse friends of all races, ages, religions, and nationalities give you a lot of benefits: It can make you more open-minded and worldly and motivate you to confront your own biases.
But if all your friends look and act just like you, you’ll limit your experiences, knowledge, and even growth.
Even today, however, diversity is low in most social circles. (And all races can struggle with this, to be fair.) Make friends not only with people of different cultures, but also of different wealth classes and generations. Widen your network and learn from their perspectives. It could be a lesson of a lifetime.
10. Breaks
If, then, I were asked for the most important advice I could give, that which I considered to be the most useful to the men of our century, I should simply say: in the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.
― Leo Tolstoy
This is simple, but it’s probably the hardest of all. Nowadays, there’s so much pressure in our lives that it can be hard to make time to rest and disconnect. (Many people even glorify being excessively busy.) But breaks are essential for maintaining your energy, motivation, and mental and emotional health.
Ultimately, there’s no way you can truly improve your “quality of life” if you don’t take a moment to enjoy your life in the first place.
Take breaks throughout your day. I use the Pomodoro Technique to help me maintain my energy and focus during my work. Then, take breaks throughout the month (or every few months). Regularly schedule several days (or even weeks) where you block all appointments, obligations, and projects so you can relax, rest, and let your mind be free.
Go on a vacation, take a day trip, or just treat yourself to a fun activity.
You’ll feel like a new person once you do.
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