
Ask HN: What is the one habit that you adopted and it changed your life? - gymshoes
For me, it is working out everyday, no matter how tired I feel. the tiredness goes away as soon as I enter the gym.
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swatcoder
Regular meditation. Specifically, transcendental meditation in my case. I'm
sure other forms can offer equivalent benefits. I committed to twenty minutes,
twice a day. It made no demands on me besides the time, and so I could just
sit down and do it no matter how my mind or body were feeling. Some days I
sink deeply into it, some days less so. But with the regularity and
commitment, I never needed to be anxious about which day would go which way.

It became an anchored daily practice that I could start hanging other
practices on. If I wanted to develop some other focus or habit, I could just
plan to do it before or after a meditation session. And _that_ regularity gave
me space for really intentional skills building and habit development, which I
had always struggled with.

It also meant I had two anchors in my day where my mood and mind and body
could find _some_ kind of center. Again, the precise impact wasn't the same
everyday, but it provided a check against things spiraling away like they
sometimes can.

And then the other lovely benefit is that it left me needing less sleep at
night. I don't nap during my meditations (or very rarely, anyway) but they
seem to provide an early down payment against my sleep needs, and so I ended
up _ahead_ on total waking time. For 40 minutes of meditation spread
throughout the day, my night time sleep needs dropped by an hour or two. It
took me a while to realize this had happened, but it did and research seems to
confirm the phenomenon. I'm not a Type-A Go Go Go person, but it's nice to
have a little extra time in my days!

~~~
e19293001
That's interesting. I'd like to learn how to do transcendental meditation.
Could you please site some good references for me to learn how to do it?

~~~
ekr
It's the first time I've heard of TM, and having experienced some benefits
from more traditional meditation in the past, I was curious.

So I ran into this document, which offers a comprehensive introduction into
TM: [http://minet.org/Documents/TM-FAQ](http://minet.org/Documents/TM-FAQ) .

Later edit:

My personal unqualified opinion on the matter: too much involvement of
religion and bullshit in this program. While there is a scientific basis to
the benefits of meditation, TM is not the most direct and straightforward way
to reaching that, as it seems to be organized more as a money-making machine
than as a non-profit for helping people.

Personally, meditation has helped me a lot in getting rid of anxiety, letting
go of a lot of worries and stress, and simply having a better mental well-
being, and with that comes a higher level of cognitive performance and general
effectiveness. But I haven't stuck to a habit of focusing the attention
towards breathing or anything like that, although I've practiced many forms.
At this point it is simply a set of thought patterns, when I notice that I'm
in an undesirable mental state, I simply breath, and let go, in a sort-of
automatic fashion. This may be something entirely different from meditation,
but I think it's a result of that practice.

For a while I've actually considered meditation to be counter-productive. In
most matters, if something is causing you stress and worry, there's an
evolutionary purpose in that stress and worry, and namely it's pushing you to
solve the problem that's at the cause of it. Meditation in a way relaxes that
push for solving the issue, that stubbornness, and also helps you let go of
desires and wishing the world was in a certain way. It has the effect of
making you more grateful and accepting of the state of things. But of course,
there are some people for whom this stress and worry is kicked into overdrive
by small things, and getting rid of that effect provides an immense benefit to
their well-being and productivity, and I count myself to that group. But
still, I think meditation is great in moderation, like most things.

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gmiller123456
Making exercise a priority rather than an option. Before this, exercise was
pretty much the last priority because it's the thing I wanted to do least. If
there was any reason not to exercise, I used it as an excuse. Now, rather than
saying I'll workout after hanging with friends, I say I'll hang with friends
after my workout. I'll still usually miss a day (sometimes two) per week, but
before I made it a priority I was lucky to exercise once or twice a week.

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drakonka
Getting at least seven hours of sleep per night and giving myself at least an
eight hour sleep opportunity (ie lying in bed with the goal of sleep). I feel
more comfortable about my overall health and mental trajectory like this (I
was chronically sleep deprived for years). While there are no super huge
obvious changes I can point to, overall my state of mind is better, I feel
more fresh, and more relaxed.

~~~
tinktank
How long after switching from sleep deprivation to a normal sleep cycle did it
take for things to improve? I've been sleeping 5-6 hours for 10+ years and
recently moved to 8 hours of sleep a night but it's been a month and I'm not
noticing any positive effects and I'm wondering if I'm just burning 2-3 hours
of my life on any given day.

~~~
swatcoder
Did you start the new routine because you wanted some specific effect or
because you thought you "should" for some abstract/cultural reason?

I'd give it more than a month to adapt, but you should try to identify some
specific benefits you want to achieve. Looking for a general sense of
"wellness" or "alertness" is going to be hard to affirm and credit. But you
can watch for and recognize more specific goals like you wake less groggy,
fall asleep more easily, exercise more effectively, work with more lasting
focus, stay more composed in trying situations, etc. The goals will be
personal.

And if you weren't struggling with anything that better sleep might fix, maybe
it's true that you don't need it!

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centralperipher
I guess mine is a bit unusual: Going out with friends every day, even if I
don't really feel like it. Social life is very important and if you're busy or
somewhat introverted, it's easy to withdraw and forget the impact it has on
you. I find myself thinking much clearer, being able to focus better and go
all the way to reach my goals now that I'm significantly more active socially.

------
japhyr
Not using an alarm clock.

I used to set an alarm for when I wanted to be up. I would hit snooze like a
fiend, and end up getting out of bed an hour or two after the time I set the
alarm for. I finally realized I could just not set an alarm, and I'd probably
get up well before I did with all that snoozing. It worked; I started waking
up much more refreshed, and usually a little after the time I used to set my
alarm for but much earlier than I was getting out of bed with all that
snoozing.

I'm 45 now and I've been waking up this way most of my life. The only time I
really set an alarm is if I have to catch an early flight somewhere, or if I'm
going on a hike and want to be up well before sunrise. If you're a snoozer,
try ditching your alarm for a week when it's not critical if you oversleep,
and see what happens.

~~~
drakonka
I tried this last night and even though it sort of worked, I found myself
waking up a couple of times starting from around 5am and not getting back to
sleep as deeply because in the back of my mind I was worrying that I'd
oversleep and be late. In my sleepiness I forgot that I still set a "just in
case" alarm, just for 8am. As a result I'm more tired this morning since I
didn't get as good as sleep. I might try it for a few more nights, maybe the
restlessness will go away.

------
nickster
Cleaning my house for 10 minutes after getting home from work. It Has save me
a significant amount of time on the weekend, by lowering the number of house
cleaning chores I have to do. Sometimes I spend more than 10 minutes but I try
to set that as the bar and sweep or fold laundry or load the dishwasher.

~~~
wingerlang
I've set a goal to clean at least "1 unit" 4 times a week. For around 2 weeks
it has worked pretty well so far.

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Haydos585x2
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is by far the best thing I've ever adopted in my life.
I've been training for 6-7 years now. It keeps my life in a good routine, has
given me dozens of friends, any time I go to a new city I can find a club and
meet people. Competitions are fun and have taught me a lot about myself.
Overall I'm a calmer and happier person because of it. I love it and hope that
I can continue training for life.

~~~
megustavulva
Just out of curiosity, what do you think is the bigger, more common habit
behind it? I mean, as a wheelchair user you can't do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Do you have any idea what I want to ask?

~~~
Haydos585x2
I'm not quite sure what you're after. I'll try and answer what I think you're
asking though.

Jiu jitsu is a massive sport in terms of how much knowledge you can acquire in
it. You start off with no knowledge and you're losing every single day. Most
people will drop off and find an easier sport or hobby.

The people that do stick around start picking up more and more information and
building their own game. They'll eventually start winning more and more rolls
in the club and learn more about why they lose when it doesn't go their way.

The community is great. I believe this is a function of spending so much time
in such close proxity to each other, literally face-to-face. There's a lot of
trust between training partners.

Competition keeps it interesting and makes sure techniques and games are
"honest". There's no point in learning or teaching something if it never ever
works. There's a large analytical community that will look through matches,
post write-ups and build the collective knowledge.

There's no "good" body shape or particular style that works for jiu jitsu.
Generally bigger people will beat smaller people but if there's a skill gap or
a few special techniques then the match can go the other way. This means
anyone can dedicate the time and just get better on their own schedule.

I don't know what other hobby could replicate that. It would probably be a
sport that doesn't rely on a team but instead of individuals testing
themselves on other people. Weight lifting could be appropriate. Maybe
something like infosec CTFs or Incident Response challenges. You're not
competing against other individuals but all solving the problem in your own
way.

Racing/driving could be another one but that would be hard as a wheelchair
user.

Honestly, I don't know enough about life in a wheelchair to say what is or is
not relevant.

------
agitator
I think two of the biggest things for me were:

Keeping a cascading daily log of tasks, thoughts, sketches. Every evening I
assess what I completed and start the log for the next day with tasks I didn't
finish from the previous day, and new things I want to tackle. It's helped me
be productive and is a positive reinforcement loop for being productive.

Second is exercising in the morning, and stretching. It makes a world of
difference in terms of health, flexibility, and compensates for stationary
computer work for the rest of the day. Not to mention, it wakes me up and
boost my mood.

~~~
fratlas
What tool for you use for the daily task logging? Or just good old paper?

~~~
agitator
I used to keep a small notebook. This one specifically:

[https://www.amazon.com/Leuchtturm1917-Medium-Hardcover-
Noteb...](https://www.amazon.com/Leuchtturm1917-Medium-Hardcover-Notebook-
Ruled/dp/B002CVAU1Y/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1540839585&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=lechturm+small)

I'd have a new one for each year. The rolling aspect kept things off my mind
as someone else mentioned. I'd note everything in there.

But more recently I moved everything to digital. I keep an iPad pro with me at
all times, and I use apple notes. I create a new note for each month, labelled
Oct 2018 for this month for example, and keep the rolling tasks list going for
that. I keep all of them in a notebook labeled "Daily Notebook". Apple notes
lets me access it from more places, and share sketches digitally, and it's
free (obviously except for the initial expense of the tablet).

------
marcochavezf
Working only between 8 to 10 pomodoros in average per day. That helped me to
create a boundary for my workday which allows me to be more productive and
feel less stressed: [https://medium.com/@marcochvez/how-i-get-my-workday-done-
in-...](https://medium.com/@marcochvez/how-i-get-my-workday-done-
in-3-or-4-hours-everyday-22b8ded00800)

~~~
wongma
worknflow looks great. I think it will be useful for me. Thanks for building
it!

In case you're open to suggestions, being able to adjust the Pomodoro duration
would be awesome. The traditional 25 minutes always seemed a little too short
for me.

And just curious about the stack if you care to share.

~~~
marcochavezf
Thanks I'm glad you find it useful :) I'm planning to add more features soon,
I will add a settings panel to configure pomodoro length and alarms. Yeah,
it's my first JAMstack project, built mainly in React with Redux, I'm using
firebase as db and netlify as hosting

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JSeymourATL
Cold Showers in the morning. Remarkably invigorating, super-charges the start
of my day.

Also, has anti-depressive effects > [https://www.medicaldaily.com/benefits-
cold-showers-7-reasons...](https://www.medicaldaily.com/benefits-cold-
showers-7-reasons-why-taking-cool-showers-good-your-health-289524)

------
meiraleal
Fasting. Not think about eating 5 times a day gives me a lot of free time.
Sometimes it gets to the point of been boring, but it brings a lot of benefits
to the body.

~~~
deepaksurti
I fast approximately 120 days of a year, or every 3rd day. Have done it under
the guidance of my doctor friend, so it was systematic.

Some are water only fasts, others are water + fruits only fast and very few (2
days a year) are no water/no food fasts. I have received incredible benefits:
feel lighter, better sleep quality and if I can say so, this is my form of
meditation!

PS: Doing it under medical supervision initially is critical.

~~~
drakonka
Do you have any tips for handling hunger cravings when starting out? I've
heard that drinking tea when hungry might help curb those, but as someone
who's been doing this for a long time maybe you have some other tips to share?

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lewisflude
Making my bed first thing in the morning really helped me recover from
depression. It was a sort of behavioural cue that would be followed by me
drinking a pint of water and in most case a 10 minute meditation (Headspace).

I think focussing on a small habit, helps you take a step towards the routine
you'd like can go a really long way to help you make good choices throughout
the day.

------
ekr
Now, I can't conclusively assert that it has changed my life, but I've been
roughly following the guidelines given in "Perfect Health Diet" and I've
experienced some general improvements in physical and mental health (although
I wouldn't say they are groundbreaking, there could be lots of confounding
variables). But lots and lots of people strongly support this book and claim
significant benefits (this again is not a strong and conclusive argument that
the book is actually correct is significant in its effect).

Perfect Health Diet ([https://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Health-Diet-Regain-
Weight/dp/...](https://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Health-Diet-Regain-
Weight/dp/1451699158)), despite the very unscientific name, it's the result of
the work of two scientists into optimizing their diet for better health. It
walks through what's essential in a human diet (micro-, macro nutrients), and
also compares to the diet of various traditional tribes, other mammals. The
book documents a clear cause-and-effect network between many nutritional
issues and the resulting diseases. I learnt a lot about the mammal metabolism
from this book.

The most significant factor arguing for this book is that almost every
assertion is supported by a multitude of significant studies.

Some quick takeaways: * dose makes the poison: for almost every nutrient the
body needs, there's a certain interval in which that nutrient is beneficial,
above which that nutrient is toxic. (yes, this may seem tautologically true,
but it's important) * the diet of the ancestral man, and most wild mammals is
strongly based on saturated and mono-unsaturated fats. This is in strong
contrast with the modern American diet, which is strongly based on
carbohydrates. As the book carries on the explain, those fats are the
exception to the above takeaway, those two types of fat pass through the
organism with very little stress to organs, it's a simple reaction which
results in no toxic by-products. * there are some commonly consumed things
which are actively harmful and are associated with a range of diseases. Some
of those are grains.

(anyway, it's been some time since I've read it, I do recommend it as a very
well thought out book on nutrition for those interested.)

------
megustavulva
You're right. Good habits are important. Routines relieve our cognitive
capacities and help us to get through the day faster and more efficiently.

But the best of all good habits was to stop hoping that something, a change or
a habit could have a massive impact on my life. So I ceased to hope and
believe.

Be strong from yourself and accept that there is not THE answer or ONE life
changer.

~~~
raindropm
Oh yeah, the lingering hope for THAT ultimate apps or THAT ultimate
productivity technique that will finally change your life, postponed what you
can do RIGHT NOW for things that might not even existed.

Anyway, after searching for ultimate technique for a long time, I found that
the answer (for me at least) is as simple as simply wake up early and do most
important things first (for me recently, is exercise) before shitstorm
happened — the classic, proven wisdom that I used to refuse to do because it’s
not ULTIMATE enough Haha. "How can that conservative routine cope with fast-
paced digital lifestyle nowadays!?" What a fool am I.

------
DrNuke
Walking two hours a day, for sure: negativity drops, the body is energized and
watching other people walk makes me relax.

------
jotjotzzz
Getting enough sleep.

Arianna Huffington was right. Sleep is absolutely necessary. In addition, some
people require only 4-5 hours of sleep, others like myself require 7-8 hours
to be "good". Getting a FitBit to track my sleep has also been helpful. Just
because I sleep on time, does not mean I have "enough" sleep. Most of us don't
fall asleep until 1-hour after we lay our heads. And in addition, most of us
do not get enough "deep sleep."

In addition, after I started tracking sleep, I realize caffeine has been
detrimental to getting "deep sleep." I often switch to decaf or go cold turkey
to help my body detox from caffeine.

------
usgroup
Study perpetually ... preferably formal so that you have exam dates. Ie
something to motivate you and make sure you’re not just skimming. Just always
be learning something. Learn until your last breath.

~~~
natalyarostova
I do this too. Once it becomes a habit of life I can't imagine not doing it. I
know so much random math, stats, coding, ML, just from grabbing a textbook and
working through problems. People think it means you are a natural, or it's
easy. For me, that couldn't be further from the truth. I'll spend half a
Saturday stuck on some really basic problem. It's frustrating, but as the
years go by the knowledge compounds. Even if the days feel futile.

------
zladza
On weekends, spending more time in nature, leaving mobile phone and any type
of connection to the “world” behind me until Monday.

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ArtWomb
Spend more time out of doors ;) You will literally feel as if you have
reconnected with a protean collective unconscious!

------
oldmancoyote
Reading Getting Things Done and fitting it into my life. It made a huge
difference.

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goatherders
Waking up early. I get more done between 5am and 9am then the rest of the day.

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jxub
Longboarding. Funnier, faster and easier on the joints than running.
Complements well a gym workout that is mostly strength-based and never gets
boring (unlike cycling in the city to me).

~~~
mbrock
Some months ago I got a kick scooter, non-electric. I use it every day, except
occasionally the bike is more practical. It's a lot of fun.

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tmaly
documenting processes and information at work. If has been a huge help in
training new people as a company scales.

