Whenever I remember to stop trying to have time, and instead focus on having worthwhile intentions, time seems more abundant. It seems to show up as needed when I’ve got a good intention going.

This makes sense, because the feeling of not having enough time doesn’t come from not having enough time. It can’t, because you always have zero time. It comes from the pain of valuing wishes and hopes over intentions, and what happens to you over who you are.

Every time I post a new behavioral experiment, or share a personal resolution of some kind, I get a few emails telling me not to be so strict with myself.

They always say something like “It’s not good to be so hard on yourself!” or “We shouldn’t be forcing ourselves to do things!”

This is a common thing to hear in our improvement-focused culture. I used to think it was a reasonable caution, but now I think it’s generally bad advice.

It seems well-meaning in most cases—people sometimes do go overboard with exercise, frugality, and personal efficiency. But I think it’s much more common for people to go under-board in some or all of those areas, and you can bet the person giving you a hard time is one of them.

We often hear about the importance of “balance” in our self-improvement efforts. But what exactly are we balancing? Good behaviors and bad ones? Are we looking for lives that are equal parts wisdom and recklessness?

Can you imagine someone saying “I don’t think we should force ourselves to brush our teeth every day. You have to live a little!”

Experiment 5

Goal: Go 21 straight days without complaining or uttering non-constructive criticism. (If I catch myself doing it, I must start again at day zero.)

This was inspired by Will Bowen’s book A Complaint Free World, in which he claims that if you stop pronouncing your negative thoughts, you stop having those kinds of thoughts, and that if everyone did this the world would change completely.

What happened: It took 55 days to get 21 complaint-free days in a row, but I did it. This experiment really does teach you not to complain, and I think everyone should do it once in their lives. But it didn’t create much of an inner change. My negative thoughts were unaffected, I just got more polite about whether to pass them on to others. Complaining can even be a worthwhile form of bonding, as I learned while I was working a painful manual labor job with new friends, and could never join in on the lighthearted griping. Still, it’s better to never complain than to complain freely.

Where I am with it today: Even though the exercise didn’t eliminate internal negativity like the book promised, the experiment left me much more conscious about expressing needless negativity, and I am pretty good at keeping it to myself most of the time. I’m also more patient with others when they’re complaining. This is one experiment I would recommend to almost anybody.

About compound interest

Most people’s financial decisions are driven by what the people around them decide — which, in this culture, typically ranges from thoughtless to completely backwards — and conscious thought about the getting the best deal on happiness doesn’t enter the picture. Would you rather have five all-expenses-paid years off to spend with your family, learn a language or build a business — or drive a big car instead of a small car? It’s shockingly normal for people to choose the latter, because they have no idea that they’re making that choice at all.

...

I am way happier already. In the three months since I’ve been smarter about my spending, I’ve saved three months’ worth of living expenses, which has an immediate stress-reducing effect. I could get laid off or fired and have plenty of time to figure out what to do, so there’s much less day-to-day stress about my job performance, which has actually led to an effortless improvement in job performance. I have a sense of control over my life that I’ve never felt before. These intangible dividends are immediate, and they don’t cost a cent because the money is still mine.

About consumption speed

When I want a thrill, I walk to the corner store without my phone.

По итогам теста выяснилось, что разница в деградации батарей между моделями с ультрабыстрой (120 Вт) и стандартной (18 Вт) зарядкой составила в среднем всего 0,3 %. Это позволяет сделать вывод, что использование мощных зарядных устройств практически не влияет на износ аккумулятора в долгосрочной перспективе.

Во второй серии тестов проверялось, насколько полезно поддерживать уровень заряда в диапазоне от 30 % до 80 %. Сравнение с режимом полной разрядки до 0 % и зарядки до 100 % показало преимущество «умеренного» режима. При этом разница в состоянии батарей составила 2,5 %.

Automatic headphone equalization

Plenty of books and blogs will tell you how to develop your functional programming skills or teach you algorithms. But if you’re already pretty good at that stuff, you might be better off trying to become a more virtuous human being: more in control of your emotions, more able to hold your nerve in times of crisis, and humbler about the institutional power your technical knowledge grants you.

Some of Stephen Wolfram’s “productivity hacks” to make his days and projects more productive. Daily life, desk environment, outside the office, presentation setup, filesystem organization, Wolfram Notebook systems, databases, personal analytics.

I especially like the treadmill.

Да, это — работа.
Сложная и требующая насилия над своими инстинктами и шаблонами мышления. Она неизбежно будет вторгаться в вашу "гражданскую" жизнь и чем дальше, тем сильнее. Есть хорошая профессиональная поговорка: то, что делаем мы, меняет нас. У этого процесса есть много плюсов (появится хладнокровие, рассудительность, обстоятельность в принятии решений), но и минусов (на фоне других людей, если не будете одевать маску, вы будете казаться холодным фриком). Решать — вам и только вам, но теперь вы по крайней мере знаете, как превратить себя из потенциальной жертвы "эмоциональных качелей", на которые вас упорно заманивают создатели новостей, в адекватного читателя-аналитика. Если вы последуете вышеизложенным советам, ваши нервы будут очень благодарны, и вы точно узнаете очень много нового о себе и о мире вокруг вас.

Instead of asking over and over again if she is working tomorrow. I just consult her very organised calendar — and when she wants to check if I'm free she looks at my very empty calendar.

Время от времени читаю, что люди страдают из-за разных часовых поясов в команде и с клиентами, путаются во встречах и вообще не понимают, как вести календарь.

Учу. Включите поддержку часовых поясов в календаре, если вдруг вы этого почему-то не сделали.

На клавиатуре есть кнопка «Капслок». Если её случайно нажать, то компьютер печатает большими буквами. Такое нормальному человеку не нужно никогда, поэтому во избежание ошибок эту кнопку нужно отключить.

Всё так, только на капслок у меня стоит смена языка.

Одна из лучших фич Мака, про которую как обычно никто не знает — зум.

Бывает, вы с приятелем пришли в кафе, и он у вас спрашивает, какой тут пароль от вайфая. У вас подключен компьютер, потому что вы тут были год назад, но пароль вы не помните.

By default, the apps on your phone are connecting to the internet even when your not using them. It's a feature called Background App Refresh and it is mostly not very useful.

Almost all mattresses should not be flipped — instead they should be rotated 180° so the foot of the mattress is now at the head.

Reduce friction in facial upkeep, build a healthy habit, and potentially save thousands on dental bills by chronologically ordering your toiletries.

A collection of one-off actions that improve your life continuously — however marginally.