whenever i would create a routine, i would immediately scrap it and do nothing all day when i would inevitably go behind schedule. but let's say you are 30 minutes behind schedule and you have 9 tasks left. 30/9 ≈ 3. if you spend just 3 minutes less on each task, you'll be right on schedule. and it doesn't have to be equally distributed (if you have tasks that you still want to do for their original timeframe, you can move their 3 minute reductions to other tasks).
Hard to put this in a way that doesn't sound like a 14 year old emo, but AFAIK (given my extremely limited reading of Seneca and similar philosophers of Antiquity) this is a great part of stoicism and after all many other philosophies around the world, but mainly (for me) it's something I've confirmed by my own experience. It's this: we should all get familiar with death, get to know it, make peace with the fact we'll die and live knowing that we may die at any moment. We should be with people when they die and be ready to choose to die at any moment if there comes a good moment for dying. Again this is not to make you emo but in fact to make you more free and happier, less of a slave to fear, and to be closer to truth. Death is very scary and no sane human probably wishes to die, but debilitating fear of and overlooking death is an unhealthy extreme that our culture unfortunately cultivates very much. Most NPCs today have self preservation and prolonging life as their highest priority and it comes at the cost of moral integrity and even living a happy life in the first place. It's as unhealthy as phobia of germs or open space, it means avoiding danger so much that it completely debilitates you, like excessive hygiene that is actually deteriorating to your health. Dying people are put out of sight and suffering is censored and IMO this is not good at all. My advice is to make some active effort to resist this cultural force, look beyond the censorship, go see death, real suffering and think and talk about death, and also be aware than anyone close to you will go sooner or later, you've got to accept it. It can also put all your own problems into perspective and helps appreciate here and now much more. Of course it should go without saying I'm talking some balance here too -- watching mexican gore 24/7 can quite surely give you PTSD or something, but then it's like everything, drinking too much water kills you just as surely, but I don't think it should be necessary to say "don't drink water until your bladder explodes", you'll feel when it's enough... I hope
always live way below your means if you can, if you're making 1500€ per months and people in your country are able to live with only 500 try to learn from those people and learn to optimize all of the money you spend, find places with cheaper rents (while making sure you won't be spending more on transport & energy ofc) learn to eat in a more optimized way, limit your spendings on non-essentials like gambling or entertainment or UberEats, with the money you save either keep it in case you lose your job and have to live on savings for a while or invest it in stuff that will make you more independent in the long run like save for a more durable and energy efficient vehicle, save for your own land, get means to produce your own energy or food
you can sometimes find furniture for free on the side of the street during garbage day, especially in urban areas
if you have friends or extended family you can get a lot of stuff for free including computers, make friend with people working in garbage collection to get an endless supply of freebies
always steal some office supplies or take the corporate freebies when you go to job interviews, that way you won't feel like you went there for nothing when they ultimately decline you
Honey and eggs are produced everywhere it make no sense at all to buy those items from the supermarket, get those either for free from family members in the countryside or local producers (can be found at the weekly market, sometimes bakeries and small shops sell their products, in europe i've even seen a few farms set up vending machines)
Aleppo soap is better for your skin and way cheaper than shower gel
Amazon is just Aliexpress with bigger prices and faster shipping delays
i do seniors workouts when i feel depressed and i want to move, but a whole workout seems too daunting. this one by Lucy Wyndham-Read is really fun. this mobility/stretching video by Yuri Marmerstein is really good too.
i do seniors workouts when i feel depressed and i want to move, but a whole workout seems too daunting. this one by Lucy Wyndham-Read is really fun. this mobility/stretching video by Yuri Marmerstein is really good too.
I feel slightly weird giving life advice, but I think the biggest thing that has helped me feel better is taking care of my body more. I've been running for a while and i can really notice a difference between times when I'm running consistently and times when I'm not. I also recently started to lift weights and its been incredible. I go with a friend who's at the same level as me which helped a lot with getting over the gym intimidation. There is no better feeling than adding weight to the bar and using it to absolutely destroy your muscles. Food is much harder for me to control, but the difference between when i eat a healthy, homecooked meal and when i eat processed garbage is also very clear. Since i started taking care of my body more I feel smarter, have more energy, sleep better, maintain a better mood, and have a much easier life. I'm sure everyone here already knows how important this is, but I thought id share the impact it has made for me.
Life Advice/Tips
