from Hacker News

Ask HN: What are your life simplicity hacks?

by atulatul on 11/3/22, 12:48 PM with 10 comments

What are some techniques you use for making life simple/ easy? Having same patterned pairs of socks of a color, learning keyboards shortcuts, limiting social media attention and time, etc. for example.

  • by ioblomov on 11/4/22, 5:47 AM

    1. Narrow your focus. Pick three to five important tasks each day. Get them done! The productivity high will either power you through more, but less important, items or give you the license to hit happy hour early.

    2. Like mass-energy equivalence in physics, time and money are equivalent in life. Optimize accordingly. Example: CS students doing their laundry may be optimal to save money, but software engineers sitting at laundromats is likely a waste of time. Same with cooking vs takeout, cleaning vs Handy, owning vs renting, etc.

    3. Stay on top of your finances by centralizing them.

      a. Get rid of all but a handful of credit cards. Increase the credit limit on those that remain.

  b. Keep only one 401k max at any given time (your current employer’s). The rest should be rolled over into an IRA.

  c. Same with banking and investment accounts.

  d. After consolidating accounts to the bare minimum, use an aggregator service like Personal Capital. If you’re paranoid, make a spreadsheet and update it at regular intervals.
    4. Get rich slow: spend less than you earn; invest the rest.

    For more on automating your finances, see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21856310.

  • by codpiece on 11/3/22, 1:04 PM

    Say no to things you can't do.

    Lock down notifications on all devices. Allow only the most important people and messages (calendar alarms, reminders) to come through. Vibrate only. No red indicators in app icons.

    I have productivity rituals that take a few minutes a day: Read your todo list in the morning. Keep a running plaintext work log (I use Logseq). Do a quick review and make tomorrow's todo list at the end of each day.

    The two weeks leading up to New Year I will clean up all of my files, reflect, and get ready for the new year's life and work.

    Easter is a time of renewal for me. I look at all my accumulated bad habits from winter and rally the self-discipline to start again. The weather is usually in my favor and warm sunny days reinforce my discipline. All the New Years Resolutioners have given up by now, so the resources are more available.

    Give sincere compliments. Society is quick to rage and shame, and miserly in recognizing goodness. Everyone has something cool about them, find it and recognize it. It's about them, not you.

  • by jstx1 on 11/3/22, 12:55 PM

    Living my life and ignoring other people's 'hacks'.

  • by kosasbest on 11/4/22, 2:25 AM

    A clean room. It helps a lot. If my room is messy I can't get anything done. Clutter and dirt everywhere is like a mirror of my mind. If everything's messy in my room, so will my code be messy!

  • by solardev on 11/5/22, 7:17 PM

    Delete social media, get outside more, exercise, eat OK, invest in relationships. The rest just kinda figures itself out.

  • by lizardbay on 11/4/22, 5:22 PM

    write journal and goal