Log in or Join! | Random quote | About Quotemeal | Last 10

1. Learn to clean as you go. You will save many hours.

2. Grocery shop after a meal. When you're hungry, everything looks delicious and you end up spending too much.

3. If you don't need something, don't buy it.

4. Time is becoming ever elusive in today's society. Learn to multitask. Pay bills on the train ride to work, listen to lectures while doing housework, see all your friends at the same time and catch up with them all at once.

5. When you're in a good mood, don't make promises! When that good mood goes away, that promise will be hard to follow through with.

6. If it takes less than two minutes, do it now.

7. Always sleep well. More time spent out of focus and unproductively is never as good as shorter, efficient time.

8. Being healthier doesn't necessarily mean you need to spend more time and money. Take the stairs, eat fruit instead of candy, add honey instead of sugar.

9. Smile at strangers. It will brighten up their day and yours too.

10. Don't let a second go by wasted. Find a passion, a person, or a goal to live for.

Originally Answered: What are your top ten life hacks?
If it works, do it again!
Wait. Breathe. Not everything requires an immediate response.
Keep your words sweet, you may have to eat them.
Keep clutter free zones - start small and expand. (zenhabits)
Use WorkFlowy - Organize your brain.
Do the next right thing, nine times out of ten it is something as simple as 'make lunch.' (from a magazine article I read long ago)
If you're not sure what to do, do what you would have done anyway.
If in doubt, do laundry.
When truly stuck, make a list of 8 items. Each should be something you can do in 5 minutes or less. Use True Random Number Service - either the app or online to pick your first action. Set Tomato Timer for the short break 5 min period. When you finish the item or when the timer goes off, whichever comes first, stop. Go back to your list. Delete the item you have done, AND another item. Add two new items. Randomize again. Repeat.
Do what you can, not what you can't. (Better to do something small than to be frozen in inaction)

1) Assume comfort in any interaction.
Our brain is an incredibly complicated instrument. Our relationship with it, is a love-hate one. We think we have control over it but usually something unconscious dictates our actions.
In most of our social interactions, we find it difficult to feel comfortable among strangers because our brain tries to protect us from exposure.
This however isn’t helping us when trying to be social and meet new people, is it?
This is why assuming comfort is so powerful. Commanding your brain to feel that you already know the person you are about to meet puts you in a position of advantage. It increases the chances of people showing interest in you and consequently even liking you.

2) Pay attention to people’s feet when you are approaching them.
Interrupting people when they are in the middle of an important conversation is one of the most annoying things to do. It shows that you have zero knowledge of social dynamics which will lead to unpleasant social situations.
When you approach a group of people while in a conversation, pay attention to their bodies. If they turn only their torsos and not their feet, it means they are in the middle of an important conversation and they don’t want you to interrupt them.
If they turn both torso and feet, it means you are welcome. This is extremely important, because the right timing in such situations may put you in a position of advantage, especially if the conversation was boring for both sides.

3) Whenever you have an argument with someone, stand next to them and not in front of them.
We’ve all been in situations where out of nowhere the conversation started escalating.
Unless you love drama, I would suggest you to avoid these situations. You might have the best argument in the world, but usually people get irritated when they feel they are wrong.
So, whenever you feel that the argument you have with another person (especially friends – it’s not cool to fight with friends) creates tension, move next to them. You won’t appear much of a threat, and they will eventually calm down.

4) Whenever you need a favor, open with “I need your help.”
Admit it. We all love to get others to do stuff for us. Either because we are lazy, or because we really need some help to complete a task.
Social dynamics show that when it comes to platonic relationships, nobody really likes an asshole. So whenever you need a favor, start your sentence with “I need your help.”
In most cases, people will accept your request and help you out. This occurs because we don’t really like the guilt of not helping someone out and we do like to be the one who is capable of helping.

5) If you want people to feel good, give them validation. Rephrase what they just told you.
We love validation. Most of our actions are the outcome of our need for validation. So what is the best way to get people to like you? Give them what they need of course. A simple example, is when you are in a conversation with another person and he says something really important for him. After he finishes, rephrase what he just said in your own words. This will make him think that you are a good listener and that you are really interested in him. It makes him feel he is the center of attention. That’s validation right there.

6) If you want to get a positive response from someone, nod while you talk.
This one is extremely powerful and also a bit manipulative especially if the person is suggestive. So use it with your own responsibility and in an ethical way. Getting a positive response from someone is usually what we want. Whether it is making a sale, or promoting a viewpoint, we always want people to get on board. Nodding while you try to deliver your message is a powerful way to get the person to agree with you. People usually like mimicking, so they will most probably nod back while you talk. This will subsequently communicate to their brains that they have to agree with you.

7) Want to see if someone is paying attention to what you are saying? Fold your arms.
Usually when we are in the middle of a conversation and especially if we talk about something very important to us, we get lost in our talking and rarely pay attention to whether the other person is following or not. So instead of losing time talking to a person who is distracted and might not even be interested in what you are saying, do this. Fold your arms while talking and see if the other person follows your move. If the other person is observing you and pays attention, they will most likely mimic you.

8) Having trouble remembering names? Repeat the other person’s name during the conversation.
I suck at remembering names. I usually don’t even listen to the other person when he says his name the moment we get introduced to each other. So usually, I ask a friend to introduce himself to the person so I can listen to his name. But then I forget it again. Awkward. Remembering names is very important because we feel important when someone mentions us. So the moment you meet someone repeat his name. Example: “Hi my name is Alex” “Nice to meet you Alex. So, Alex how do you know John?” And continue to repeat his name throughout the conversation.

9) If you ask someone a question and they only partially answer, just wait. They will keep talking.
This is a very common situation when you don’t know the other person that well or your question wasn’t clear enough. If they finish the answer without providing a full answer, just wait. Stay silent and keep eye contact. If the tension becomes unbearable, raise your eyebrows. It puts a bit of pressure on them but it communicates that you show interest. It also sub-communicates that you are a person that usually gets what he wants.

10) People usually focus on the emotion and not on the subject.
This is very useful in public speaking but also in building rapport with an acquaintance. Whenever you introduce yourself to new people, most probably they have already heard what you are about to say. Well that’s not a problem. Even if you want to talk about the most boring topic in the world, make sure of one thing: Always try to evoke emotions. From my experience the 3 emotions that you want to evoke are: • Excitement • Laughter: Everyone likes to laugh • Intrigue: Leave a little mystery so the other person has to invest energy to hear more. Don’t be purposely distant, but avoid verbal diarrhea.
There are many techniques to turn a boring conversation into an exciting and intriguing one, but here are a couple of my favorites:
Pause: A lot of the time when we want to keep someone’s attention, we tend to talk really fast, but this subcommunicates neediness and nervousness. A well-placed pause can create tension that makes your words have more gravitas.
Tone and Inflection: No one finds monotone exciting. Switch up your tone of voice from deep for declarative statements, to high inflection when you want to leave them guessing.
Paint pictures and compose symphonies in their mind with sensory details: When telling a story, take the person you’re talking to on an emotional journey by describing the colors, sounds, textures, tastes, smells, and how they made you feel. This will cause their mirror-neurons to fire off, making it easier for them to imagine actually being there with you.
So if you want to be memorable, focus on the emotion behind the words. People may forget what you say, but they will never forget how you make them feel.
READ: 8 Ways to be UBER Charismatic11) Confidence is more important than knowledge.
Two young candidates walked into the interview office to apply for the same job. The first one had a Phd, two Masters and a Bachelor’s degree. The second one had just a Bachelor. The first one was kind of shy, didn’t talk much, his body language was turned inward. The second one had an upright posture, was looking the interviewers directly in the eyes, showed a lot of interest in the job and his answers where emitting confidence. We don’t have to tell you who got the job.

12) Fake it until you make it.
No one became an expert on anything over night. However, the learning process in everything you do is accelerated by commanding your brain to think what you want it to think. In simple words. You are what you believe you are. • You are confident if you believe you are confident • You are attractive if you believe you are attractive • You are extrovert if you believe you are extrovert If you want to look deeper into this idea look up two words. Neuroplasticity and brain rewiring.

13) Pose in a Power Stance.
This is similar to the previous point, but more concrete than a mantra or belief. Go stand in the mirror, put your hands on your hips, thrust your pelvic forward, pull your shoulders up, back and down, open your chest, tilt your head up, and force the biggest smile you can possibly manage to fit across your face. Even if you consciously know you’re just faking it, your brain can’t tell the difference, and will release endorphins to match your body position. This can feel silly, but it really works.

14) If you want to be persuasive, try and reduce the use of the words “I think” and “I believe.”
I don’t really feel the need to elaborate on this one. Obviously these words do not evoke confidence and the other person will most probably not take you seriously. Change them to ‘I know’ and ‘I will’ instead.

15) A clean and organised environment affects your mood, productivity, and others perception of who you are.
How many times have you waken up without any motivation at all? How many times have you started working on something without being able to get focused and inspired? Next time this happens, take a look around you. Is your environment clean and well-organized? If not, take some minutes to clean it up and put everything into place. You will feel refreshed and reborn and productivity will spark immediately. But not only that, you will come across as caring and punctual, two highly esteemed traits. Why do think most of the big companies pay so much attention to creating the best working environment for their employees? They know what makes them happy and how it affects their productivity.

16) Want to find out which people are close to each other within a group and who is perceived as the leader?
Pay attention to who is looking at each other when everyone in the group laughs at a joke. People instinctively look at and agree with the person they feel closest to within the group.

17) Whenever you call a person you want to meet, show excitement!
Always have this in mind. Excitement is contagious. Why do you think the music video from Pharrell Williams – “Happy” got so many views and so many people were talking about it?
People love excitement! It is like an escape from their boring lives. Never forget that.
(You can mirror this and show disappointment if somebody let’s you down, making them painfully aware of their hurtful actions.)

18) Want to build rapport and gain respect? Match body language.
This is quite a common topic among body language experts and works well if you want to gain respect from a person that has high value.
Example:
You are in a social situation where a person has higher value among others within the group. He is the center of attention and he totally enjoys it. How do you match his value? By befriending him!
If you want his respect and attention the best thing to do when you approach him is to match his body language and speaking patterns. If he has open body language and he talks with excitement and joy, don’t go there with crossed arms and with an attitude of negating his words.
Approach him with the same amount of excitement and show openness and interest.

19) When someone insults you, either ignore him or mock him. Never lose temper. Always control the frame.
Haters are everywhere. The more you feed them with hate, the stronger they become. Never lose your temper. This is a great example of how to deal with a hater. Enjoy!

19) Stand up straight, have warm hands and always keep eye contact.
• Keep a straight posture and walk like a born leader. This sub-communicates confidence and others will respect you automatically.
• Keep your hands out of your pockets. If you don’t know what to do with them, it is better to fold your arms rather than keep them inside your pockets.
• Keep your hands warm. If you have a warm hand when you shake somebody’s hand, you immediately become a more desirable person to get along with. Secret Tip – wash your hands with warm water often to keep them warm or take cold showers.
• You have heard this a thousand times. Here is the 1001st. – never lose eye contact! Losing eye contact is like losing your confidence. One cool trick when first meeting someone is to focus on their eye color and smile at the same time. The eyes are the gateway to the soul, and taking the extra second to gaze shows you are confident and present. (Be sure to move your eyes away periodically, a constant stare will creep people out.)

20) The Benjamin Franklin Effect.
The Ben Franklin effect is a psychological finding:
A person who has done someone a favor is more likely to do that person another favor than they would be if they had received a favor from that person. Similarly, one who harms another is more willing to harm them again than the victim is to retaliate.
This is an unbelievable finding. In social situations, you can hack this by making someone do something small for you, then asking for your true favor. It’s such a small favor that they will say yes, and due to cognitive dissonance their brain will rationalize that they must like you enough to do you a favor in the first place. This is also called the foot-in-the-door effect.

21) Don’t be afraid to touch another person.
Touching someone on the shoulder or their knees creates an emotional and physical bond. Especially during moments of joy, laughter and excitement touching positively reinforces these traits. If you’re uncomfortable with touching, remember 12, fake it until you make it.

22) Use the door-in-the-face hack.
The opposite of foot-in-the-door. Make an unreasonably large request that will most likely be turned down (but if it isn’t then that’s even better!), and follow up with your true intended, more reasonable request. The other person will be more likely to agree to the second request.

23) Always frame a request as a choice.
No one likes to feel pressured into doing something they don’t want to do. By subtlety rephrasing a request, you can make the person feel like they came to the decision on their own terms.
Homeless people who say things like, “it’s up to you if you want to donate or not” end up making more money than those who simply ask for money. The same is generally true for bands that offer “pay what you want” payment structures for their music. They know you can easily download their music for free off the internet, so they encourage you to pay what you feel is right.
A slightly more aggressive technique is the assumptive close:
This is a classic sales technique that can be used in any social situation. Instead of asking for permission, “do you want to donate/go on a date/get something to eat” assume that the person already does. Of course, you can’t just force someone to do something, but a leading question can nudge them in the right direction: “Would you like to donate 5 dollars or 10 dollars?”
Now instead of simply saying yes or no, they have to actively deny your request and feel like a naysayer.

24) If you work in a bar or in customer service of any kind…
Put a mirror behind you at the counter. When an angry customer approaches you, he will have to see himself in the mirror and will most probably calm down. Nobody likes ruining his image.

25) Chew gum if you are nervous.
Evolutionarily speaking, our brains assume that if we are eating then we aren’t in any immediate danger, so the fight or flight response is weakened.

Keep a diary. Writing can do wonders for your mental health. It also helps you focus and structure thought about things that are happening. Good article on benefit and how to start writing a diary - Why You Should Keep a Journal (and How to Start Yours).
Drink a glass of cold water after waking up. A lot of doctors recommend drinking water first thing in the morning. I changed it a little by drinking ice cold water. Good for health and helps to wake up quicker.
Meditate in the morning. Meditation calms your mind, increases blood flow to your brain, helps to battle procrastination, and has even been shown to boost your test scores. Here is a good guide on how to get started - Guide: Everything you need to start meditating - A Life of Productivity. I would also recommend to try Headspace
Use Pomodoro Technique when working. The “Pomodoro Technique” is a time-management technique where you work on just one activity for 25 minutes, then take a five-minute break. I find it very effective, especially when tackling complex.
Turn off synchronization on your smartphone/tablet. Some time ago I realized that constant messages, emails and social media update on my smartphone are really destructing. After that I uninstalled a lot of apps and started try to check my email and social medias no more than 3 times day. I became more focused and I haven't missed a thing.
Use 2-minute rule. The two-minute rule says that when a task will take you less than two minutes, just do it—don’t add it to your to-do list or capture it for later. It really helps to deal with small things quicker and lets your brain to be much less occupied.
Less multitasking. Multitasking is highly controversial, and I have a feeling that world is obsessed with it right now. I found that it does not really work for me, and since then I was able to become more productive.
Do "mind capture" ritual once every couple of weeks. Sit down, set a timer for 15 minutes, and turn off all distractions. Then capture all of the open loops in your head, to clear away your mental clutter. Originally found here - The simple (but powerful) 15-minute ‘mind capture’ ritual - A Life of Productivity
Watch TED: Ideas worth spreading. It was and still is hard for me to give up watching TV on regular basis. But I was able to replace a reasonable part of it with TED talks. It is very educational , entertaining and gives interesting view on a wide variety of topics.
Keep the distraction out of reach. By keeping distractions at least 30 seconds away, you will get an appropriate amount of time at least to understand the urge of getting distracted. This might involve blocking social media on PC when working, putting smartphone further away, etc.

But my top life hacks have to do with understanding fundamentally how to improve the self (and thereby take advantage of the wonderful answers here.) To me lifehack is how to hack my life (for happiness in my case), not how to hack the things in my life. ;)

1. The mind is recursively aware and you can use that to your advantage. When you think something, you can continually assess why you thought what you thought. This allows you to separate your functioning mind from your thinking mind. This is why we can improve ourselves with simple rules.

2. The mind is a junkie that craves dopamine and serotonin. Knowing this and #1, you can rewire your brain to respond to completely different stimulus and effectively change your entire behavior and outlook. Some of us may need medications to stabilize our minds long enough to engage in such practices and may never respond to medications enough to engage in such a practice, but the underlying principle is still true. Afraid of something? Try having sex right after you encounter that fear. The next time you see your fear, you will be slightly sexually aroused and that can help push back the fear hormones and give you a better functioning brain as a result. Just one example.

3. Fear is a useful guidepost but a terrible master. If you feel fear, you are addressing something that is basic to who you are. You can use fear to reliably point you to areas of your mind that require attention. Just as children have boogeymen and real fears, so our mind has built up notions that scare us away from the truly important part of ourselves, sometimes those parts that while painful are comfortable because they are known and we have coping mechanisms for. Where there is fear, there may be good reason to be afraid, but you won't know it until you face the fear. In conjunction with #2, you can overcome your fears by redefining the dopamine you receive from the fear.

4. You're an animal with basic animal instincts of survival. This means that we have many shortcuts in our brains to help us avoid thinking and simply act in response to stimulus. Use that to change yourself, too. For instance, yellow and red are signs of danger. It's not always true, but as a general rule, it's pretty helpful. Being aware of what is making you feel the way you do and trying to understand whether the reaction is instinctual or learned will help you a) realize when you're being manipulated or b) being led astray by your own instincts.

5. We live the lives we are most comfortable with - regardless of how painful we might perceive our lives to be. Think about that for a second. Is there something in your life that you hate? The question is not how do I get rid of this thing I hate, but rather why do I keep putting up with this thing? Why do I keep going back to it and obsessing over it? If you cannot answer it, let it go because it's not the real problem. That means you have to live with yourself in odd ways for a while until you are ready or aware enough to deal with that thing. This frees you up to focus on the things that you can immediately change and which are truly problematic for you. Do you think you're fat and that upsets you and yet you remain fat? Perhaps you have a medical condition or perhaps you're happy enough in your life that being fat doesn't really mean anything. Or perhaps being fat is a protection mechanism in some way and it makes you feel more comfortable to be fat than not to. Either way, if you're not really changing it, you don't really want to change it. That doesn't mean you're bad or wrong or any other negative judgement. Sometimes our unhappiness comes from the theft by expectation put upon us by a society we didn't construct for ourselves. This is the essence of Emerson's quote, "The majority of men lives in quiet desperation."

6. Meditate. Often and vigorously until you die. I don't do it enough because I let myself get distracted with other things too often. It's also not a cure all for what ails you. BUT it is the single best exercise you can give your mind and has the most payoff for a happy and productive life (productive by human standards not capitalistic standards ;) ) Even if you think you can never calm your mind enough to meditate, just spending 10 minutes a day with everything turned off staring outside can be enough to bring a deep sense of calm to your life.

7. Accept that just like you, everyone else is living their life as best they know how - even if you know a better way. This is the root of compassion and forgiveness. Try not to look at people doing stupid things and say to yourself, "Oh, my God, they know better than to do that." or "What the hell were they thinking?" Just let go of that thinking and say to yourself, "They're doing their best and maybe one day they'll be better than me but they are learning and I am not their teacher." Accept without judging and you will be happier and that happiness will be returned to you in the way you deal with others.

8. Accept the apology you're given not the apology you wanted. You may not like the apology you're given, it may not address the points you wanted it to, it may not be in the language you wanted it to be in. It may be a somewhat selfish apology, or an ignorant one. It may not even be sincere. That's not your problem to deal with. Apologizing is a form of growth and when we take the time to apologize and consider others, we expand ourselves to cover the consequences of our actions. If we don't sincerely apologize, then the failure is within ourselves not necessarily a failure to others. This doesn't mean you have to take every apology and forget whatever transgression the apology attempts to address. You can and should still remove people from your life who don't live a life in accordance with your physical and psychological well-being. And of course, if you can, keeping #7 in mind, try to help the other person understand what you need from them (not what failure they created in their apology) and listen to what they are trying to tell you they intended. Ideas are great, execution is flawed and that goes for apologies, too.

10. Life is short, waste more of it. This is one of the great paradoxes of life. We are not machines who are happy wrenching every second of every hour out in some kind of pursuit. We enjoy life more when we experience life, not exist to live life at some point in the future. So many people - too many people - think things like "When I get this promotion, we'll do more together", "When I get older, I'm going to X" It's good to have plans and look forward. Don't get me wrong. Someone else here mentioned something I agree with that for every one thing you bring in to your house, you should take two things out. I agree with that for your life, too. For every future thing you say, say two things about now. If you have a bucket list, with ten items, pick 20 things you like about now, or the current people you know. It can give you a lot of perspective on the trap of "efficient time use" that isn't efficient for our happiness, only our production. Don't feel guilty for wasting a day, dont' feel proud of it, either.

quora 

submitted by: Admin

<<< back | next >>>