My 10 Favorite Life Hacks

While some people have grown jaded by the use of the word “life hack” in internet culture, I’ve always seen them as a modern adaptation of a time-honored practice. They serve a similar role as the tips and tricks that used to be shared in almanacs, like Poor Richard’s Almanack, published nearly 300 years ago by Benjamin Franklin.

Life hacks are nothing more than tips, strategies, and heuristics that we’ve picked up along the way to help us navigate the world a little easier. A life hack can make a task feel more manageable, or amplify our efforts to produce better results.

The word “hack” implies a creative solution to a problem, or a quick-and-dirty way of accomplishing a job. A life hack doesn’t pretend to be a universal solution to a universal problem— just a successful improvement to a particular challenge.

But that’s what makes them so approachable. Because life hacks don’t pretend to be absolute advice, you’re free to pick and choose which ones you want to try, without guilt. You can modify them to perfectly fit your needs, and see what happens. 

In that spirit of experimentation and lifelong learning, I’d like to share a few of my own personal life hacks. They might work for you, and they might not, but hopefully they inspire you to keep seeking to improve yourself in small ways.

My Favorite Life Hacks

Have a weekly marriage meeting. This practice forces my wife and I to slow down at least once a week for very intentional conversation. We praise each other very specifically, plan for fun times together, and talk through any challenges or opportunities we’re facing. A weekly meeting ensures we’re staying on top of the small things that can really make a difference.

Do your most important task first. This is common advice, but it seems I was always making exceptions, especially for tasks that felt urgent. When I made it an iron-clad rule to do the most important thing first, I found I had more motivation for the rest of my work, and I was surprised how quickly my progress began accelerating.

Replace all exercise with a long daily walk. Almost every day I go for a long, brisk walk through our town. Because I love walking, I always look forward to it, and rarely miss a day. Plus, this gives me an hour a day to think, pray, and occasionally talk on the phone with family. 

Identify and eat healthy foods you enjoy. It’s almost impossible to stick with any habit that you don’t enjoy, and so I’ve realized my diet is vastly more nutritious when I surround myself with healthy foods I actually like to eat. This isn’t rocket science, but I think people underestimate how powerful the benefits of healthy eating can be over the long term. For example, I love muesli, dark chocolate, sauteed vegetables with good spices, and perfectly seasoned beans— when they’re around, I know I’ll eat more of them.

Break the rules when reading to learn. When it comes to non-fiction books, and reading for personal growth in general, the main reason I see people not reading more is that they get stuck in the boring part of a book. I say, break all the rules! Read the chapters that seem most interesting to you, or read them out of order. Skip or skim over the boring parts and go deep into the parts that interest you. You won’t retain what you read if you’re not engaged anyway. 

Take action before you feel ready. Without a doubt, I tend to wait too long to take action, if I’m following my natural instincts. I’ll research every angle and plan for every possibility before taking that first step. But if experience has taught me anything, it’s that I need to take that leap long before I feel ready. Most problems are far easier to solve with vivid, real-world examples than in the abstract canvas of my mind. Now, I regularly push myself to have a bias towards action.

Find a mentor or a partner. While there’s a lot you can learn in books and from the internet, we are still social creatures, and do our best work with others. Compared to reading 10 books, spending 10 hours with a mentor is a vastly better way to learn a subject. And if you’re serious about tackling a big problem or project, there is no higher leverage tip I can offer than to find a like-minded friend to join you.

Learn to ask good questions. If I could have any superpower it would be the ability to always ask the perfect question. As it is, I have gained so much in life by asking lots of questions and following my curiosity in this way. Thinking of good questions to ask has brought me closer to friends, and opened me to a world of knowledge that I would have otherwise missed out on. It’s a skill that anyone can improve with practice.

Take a small dose of melatonin before bed. This advice is very specific to me, but it’s been such a powerful change, I have to share it. For the longest time, I had trouble falling asleep at night as I waited for my mind to slow down. Taking a small dose of melatonin about an hour before bed has been a game-changer and is considered generally safe for short term use. It easily results in me sleeping an extra 30-60 minutes a night. Talk to your doctor to see if melatonin makes sense for you.

Keep things simple. For whatever reason, we humans have a tendency to overcomplicate things. Of course, this is easier for me to spot in other people than in myself, but I’m constantly seeing examples of unnecessary complexity. My practice is to ask two questions: “what is the simplest way to get started?” and “what can I remove without making things worse?”

There you have it, my current 10 favorite life hacks. Maybe a few will strike a note with you as you think of how to simplify and find enjoyment in life.