At the abstract level, I find it a bit depressing that the blogosphere seems to be chock full of people who regurgitate common knowledge and attempt to present it as something new. There seems to be very few people who have unique insights worth following and sharing.
My rule with my personal blog has always been: don't write it if it is not new, original, or at least somewhat interesting. This is perhaps why I stopped doing it. :P
Because if there is a single one of these that you don't do, maybe the problem is that you don't execute on the good advice already around you.
It is so common at this point, I"m not sure it needs repeated by yet another blog. I can kinda see the parent's point in that regard.
Maybe it is just me, and I'm some kind of happiness hating troll (I really don't think so, though!) but there's a certain point at which I feel like a person keeping gratitude journal is trying to stave off a deeper and more problematic depression that ought to honestly be addressed with more serious activities besides writing down what you're grateful for every day.
Sure this is a no-shit sherlock kind of moment. But how many of us are actually doing the same generic "exercise" and "laugh more" and make conscious effort to do it well ? It is hard and always worth stressing.
It's not enough to know that exercising and laughter will improve your health, but you need to know why--the stuff that Barker puts on his site or on Wired is research-based. It isn't just garbage from link bait sites like pickthebrain.com.
Perhaps that's the problem with the post in general: it is not practical. For example, instead of (or in addition to) saying that exercise is good for you, it could say "here are some exercise programs for beginners" and post links to P90X or Couch-to-5K. That way, the post could become a useful resource for people who actually want to improve their life, rather than a regurgitation of commonly-known facts.
It has increased the speed and frequency at which we share ideas, almost all of them unoriginal.
Ironically, you came to Hacker News to get ideas, which is in itself a giant arena for everyone to discover things that others have already discovered.
If you're looking for newness and originality, you should probably unplug.
What groundbreaking insights would you provide? It's somewhat obvious which points you'd remove; with what would you replace them?
Daily Habits:
get rid of idle internet time
morning self reflection: what structual and systemic things can be improved today (improve one of the systems)
mental excercise: pick a subject, try to come up with 40 ideas.
go over goals
learn 1 thing before work (could be done in 15 min of reading)
throught the day, stop and classify thoughts as "useful" , "not useful"
do the hardest thing first.. before breakfast..
step out of the comfort zone at least once. (challenge promotes growth)
work on verbal communication (5-15 min practice)
get at least one thing done and off the TODO list
1 HR of quality reading
while being at work, WORK (be results oriented)
spend some time to clear mind clutter and BE IN THE PRESENT
short term sacrifices for long term rewards (expenses, nutrition, excercise)
plan out next day in advance (next week, month)
before taking any action (or not taking action) project forward (30 seconds, 5 minutes, day, year, 30 years) would you be better off with different choice.
recharge emotional energy
I had a roommate last year that moved to Austin from Iraq. He was self-conscious and had trouble socializing. I introduced him to some of my favorite American TV comedies like "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia". The transformation in his sense of humor was incredible.
One of my favorite things to do before a date is to watch something that makes me laugh. Totally changes my mood.
I'm not sure if I've ever laughed out loud at a sitcom, even ones that I enjoy. The same for stand up comedy, the rest of the room can be in stitches but my expression rarely changes beyond a slight grin.
This can sometimes be awkward when somebody is telling me an anecdote that is intended to be humorous, because I always end up feeling like I should force out a fake laugh.
Do you think this is related to some other aspect(s) of your personality? If so, what? (if you don't mind sharing)
For the past year I've spent a few minutes every morning thinking about what I'm grateful for and it's had a big positive influence on my life. I'm definitely happier.
I exercise regularly and it definitely helps me in other areas of my life but I wont just advise "exercise daily" as the solution to anyone and everyone who has any questions about getting better.
What has worked for me so far is to set just 1 concrete goal for the year or 6 months and break it down into the smallest possible pieces and act on it daily.
What doesnt work... 1. Setting too many goals... I mean cmon are you going to start mediating, execising, going out in the nature, maintain a gratitude journal daily ? Sure maybe for 3 days..but once the novelty/willpower wears off, you will be back to square one...
2. All or nothing... Either you exercise daily or you quit..All of us get trapped into the perfection trap and end up doing nothing.. I would rather exercise/meditate/scratch-my-ass 2-3 times a week until THAT becomes a habit.
3. Giving up at the first sign of failure and blaming yourself... Too many people say to themselves "Oh I went on a diet but I ate that cookie..I am a failure... might as well eat the entire box and start afresh from tomorrow"/ "I just dont have the discipline, I am giving up".. Know that you will fail a few times before you get the hang of it..which goes back to #2...dont focus on perfection, focus on progress.
That's it... Just 1 goal to be broken into smallest possible pieces...something you can act on daily...or perhaps a few times a week...
It's perfect for things you want to commit to doing daily. In fact, it's all about that, as opposed to StickK which is not so data-oriented and just has weekly reports.
Our litmus test for whether you should beemind things like in TFA is:
1. How certain are you that you *want* to do this?
2. How certain are you that you *can* do this?
3. How certain are you that you *will* do this?
Am I the only one who's turned off by this number? I understand that's what you're supposed to do and doing this is a nice way to get a bump on your traffic but being bombarded by the links just gives me the feeling that the entire content is there to do just that, rather than conveying any useful information.
Spend at least 15 minutes journaling the events of the day.
Spend at least 15 minutes planning out your schedule and goals for the next day.
Punch a velociraptor in the jaw.*
Each some greens.
*Optional