Low-effort ways to improve life

Go for a bike ride and have a pint

I’d sleep for longer without my alarm, thats for sure. Not sure thats a good solution financially for me though.

Other alarm clocks are available, that’s just an excuse.

Spend quality time with family, not just the daily going through the motions

Spend time in forests or on the beach, can be any weather, but nothing beats fresh air and being in nature

Coffee and alcohol – drink well, not often

If you enjoy music, a half decent stereo (doesn’t need to be expensive) and take time for it, not just staring at TV, same as good books.

1. Cut back on alcohol.
2. If you can, have the same getting up time every day (no lie-ins), go to bed when you’re tired.
3. Learn self-compassion if you don’t already practice it.
4. Do something new.
5. Learn or improve a skill.
6. Listen actively.
7. Get outside.
8. Speak to someone you care about.
9. Volunteer.
10. Walk rather than use the car for short trips.

Get outside often.

Make friends with a dog.

Don’t be a dick.

Coke and hookers ?

An early night is not a waste of an evening, it’s an investment in the next day.

If you’re scrolling on your phone, go spend 5 minutes tidying something up, unload the dishwasher, put some tools away instead. Phones are designed to keep you engaged, once you’ve put it down and done something, you’ll probably find something far more productive to do.

Steer clear of threads like this

For years I have had one phone for work and personal use.

I’ve recently bought a personal phone and taken everything other than work based apps off the work phone and vice versa.

Being able to turn emails off at the end of the day and not take calls on weekends or evenings has been unbelievably good for me.

10 Keys For Happier Living

GIVING = do kind things for others

RELATING = connect with people

EXERCISING = taking care of your body

AWARENESS = living life mindfully

TRYING OUT = keep learning new things

DIRECTION = have goals to look forward to

RESILIENCE = find ways to bounce back

EMOTIONS = look for what’s good

ACCEPTANCE = be comfortable with who you are

MEANING = be part of something bigger

https://actionforhappiness.org/10-keys

Cake and crisps 

Get a dog. Other than marrying MrsRNP it’s the best thing I’ve done.

I love the awe-inspiring scenery it’s opened up to me in my quest to give him the most fulfilled life I can. I’ve had some of my life’s most tranquil and relaxing moments when out with Bert.

Smile and laugh more. It enhances mood and makes other people wonder what you’re up to. Double-win.

Loads of great suggestions here. I especially agree with the ‘go outside’ stuff.

What’s your favourite food? Coffee? Butter? Bread? Biscuits? Sausages? Next time you’re shopping rather than buy your usual version get a really expensive type. It doesn’t really cost that much more, and you’ll love it.

I leave for work 10 minutes early. Each day I stop somewhere pretty and have a coffee from my flask, just taking it all in. I often do this on the way home as well.  It helps that I cycle along a good route, but even if you’re driving through town there must be a park or something.

What’s your favourite food? … Next time you’re shopping rather than buy your usual version get a really expensive type.

Or try and make it yourself?

Don’t get stressed about the stuff you can’t control, e.g. the weather.

Meet with those less fortunate and help. Ideally not with money.

Each day I stop somewhere pretty and have a coffee from my flask, just taking it all in

Nice idea :).  We rush too mutch.  I try (when I’m working) to take a longer commute home via a park rather than going directly as I like seeing people outside being happy

The clue is in the title. 

We rush too much.

This.  Have a think about ancient times when the Chinese spent decades learning the art of writing, or the Greeks lifetimes on philosophy.  In our age we want everything and we want it Now, and its very damaging.

Just Live rather than forcing life, let things happen.

Lob a friendly smile at a random stranger. They will reciprocate as a reflex and probably do the same to someone else. Who knows where it will end up? Somewhere along the way, someone who really, really needs that acknowledgement that they exist might be on the receiving end. As low effort/high reward as it gets.

Just stop, shut your eyes, focus on your breath, focus inwards, and otherwise do nothing.

If you are an office worker,try not to have lunch at your desk.
Get out and go for a screen free walk,whatever the weather.

5 ways to wellbeing is a great, simple thing to pick up on.

https://www.mind.org.uk/workplace/mental-health-at-work/five-ways-to-wellbeing/

each month, ensure you spend less than you earn.

Have something challenging to work towards (could be anything from a big jigsaw to leaning rocket surgery)

spend time in big majestic landscapes & take time to soak them in.

read before bed / don’t scroll social media 

get plenty sleep.

spend more on making memories than stuff 

restore something beautiful

Leaving my phone in another room or even at home is liberating. But certainly disengaging from news websites/twitter/social media is a sure fire way to improve things. limit it to one session a day

work in the garden, chop firewood, have a bonfire, cook baked potatos in the embers. This makes me happy

Maybe youll marry, maybe you wont.

Dont sweat the small stuff

But trust me on the sunscreen

If your a middle lane drinker then give up alcohol! Will make a massive difference.
Also I’ve not been on the socials for over 8 years and it’s best thing I’ve done for myself.

Get a dog. Ideally a spaniel but other makes and models will also work. Guaranteed daily exercise and general awesomes. 

Agree re work Phone and personal phone. One of my most positive changes though it does result in many people questioning if I am a drug dealer! Turn off notifications of emails etc as well. The tiny little counter of how many unread emails used to stress me out. I’ll be looking for that scheduling of notifications too. 

I regularly leave work phone at home at weekends now and have even started going out without personal phone too. 

Get a dog, get outside, smile at people and talk to people. 

Must book my volunteer day from work to do some volunteering as well. 

 Liking the idea of that 15 minute podcast, would fit perfectly into my day. 

Learn an instrument instead of watching TV or phone scrolling. After picking guitar up in lock down, I can’t imagine life without it. Instant stress relief, and positive vibes when I pick it up.

I want to put in a good word for social media, the ability to connect with both like-minded and diverse people (who are not always geographically accessible) can be greatly life-enhancing. Doomscrolling though stupid click-bait on FB doesn’t fall into this category, of course. But cultivating an interesting set of people to follow (may be local friends on strava, thought-provoking people on xitter/mastodon/whatever) is worthwhile.

Getting outside and doing anything is usually a good idea, though if that means cycling to and from work in dark windy pissing rain day after day it does get a bit wearing eventually (IME). On that topic, cycling to work is an obvious change that many could probably make with a small effort, though hopefully people on this forum have already considered that.

Getting a dog is a dramatic change and I don’t think it can sensibly be recommended as a “low-effort way…”

If your a middle lane drinker then give up alcohol

Cool, I only drink at 90 in the fast lane

As a general rule in life go for quality rather than quantity.

Go and camp/bivvy/bothy in a nice place close to home now and again even if it’s only for one night.

When riding/walking/paddling/running, etc.  check you aren’t still thinking of the stuff you went on the ride/walk, etc to get away from.  If you are… focus on what you are doing and the place/experience… enjoy the moment. 

Only visit and participate in the STW bike forum, not the chat forum.

After 30 plus years of only doing the odd thing on my cars, buying new and paying others to work on them.  I sold my newish L200 and bought an old VW thats in good shape, but needs some mechanical work and started working on it myself.  Almost a year in and I bloody love it!  I have rebuilt the whole front end, all the brakes and lots of other smaller tasks. 

My point it, whether is Airfix kits or woodturning, just doing something really different than your day job is such a release (well it has for me), my hobby has saved us a fortune, plus we go camping and load it up and go mtbing.  Off to the Alps in the new year 🙂

Don’t drink crap coffee

I came here to say this.  For me, these have also worked:

Work from home if you can.  Switching to being 100% home based in 2017 has had the biggest impact on my quality of life.  I was spending 45 minutes x 2 each day OF MY OWN TIME getting to the office.  that’s 7.5 hours of my own time back each week – the equivalent of a whole working day.  Crucially, you have to claim this time as your own, and not work those extra hours.

Hellofresh.  I know some people hate it, but for me, this has a hugely disproportionate impact on my quality of life.  It doesn’t cost any more (I have tested it) and it effectively means that you are eating good and varied meals every night with ZERO effort on your part.  It’s also made me realize that I actually really enjoy cooking/prepping the meals – it was the menu planning/shopping that I didn’t like.  Like I said, I know some people really don’t like it, but for me I’d put this right up with working-from-home in terms of impact.

Limit your news consumption, and be choosy where you get it from.

My main thing is taking on little projects which improve your life in small ways.  These have a direct benefit once they are done, but while you are doing them also make you feel like you are improving things for yourself, and so (for me at least) have a benefit greater than the sum of their parts.  Some of my mini-projects have included:

Refurbish/upgrade old coffee machine and grinder (see above) that I bought for pennies off of marketplace.

Upgrade kitchen knife set to individual Japanese ones (with all the research that entails)

Buy whetstones and learn to sharpen above

Build home media server thing (my first foray into computer nerdery) for streaming music etc

Some of these took place over a few weeks, others (coffee machine) took much longer – but it’s as much about having a little “tinkering” project.  I think it makes me feel like I’m achieving something tangible whilst otherwise “running to stay still” with the everyday stuff.

I think a very wise man once said ‘Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don’t wait for it, don’t plan it, just do it’.

Work from home if you can.

well it depends on the individual.  Even as a non social introvert, sitting in the same room with the same laptop day in day out mentally fatigues and bores me.  I find it much more mentality stimulating to split my time to home / office / customer office / trade shows.  

So on that note, if you work from home change it up if you can – change rooms, work from a free hotel bar/lobby, library or something from time to time perhaps.  

Just to be slightly contrary, I found going back into the office has helped me no end – proper break between home and work.

Obviously a very personal choice, but i need people around me to work and focus better. Trying to make working at home work for me was killing my mood and productivity.

So sometimes going against the flow works for an individual.

Helped by discovering that i can commute door to desk by train in 30 minutes, rather than up to an hour by car.