Sharing Ideas to Improve Our Collective Lives

Sundry Chitchat
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To me, the greatest benefit of UP has always been the opportunity to learn from the collective intelligence and life experience contained herein. I think our posters are awesome, and I welcome any opportunity to learn further from the rest of you.

Toward that end, I hope this thread can be a place to share the various discoveries, habits, purchases, ideas, and ways of living that have improved our own lives - so that others may benefit as well. Below are some quick discoveries from my own life, to be further expanded later when I have more time. I had hoped to make a more extensive OP, but the result was just my procrastinating while generating ideas. I think it will be more helpful to share a few at a time than to wait six months for a five-page first post.

Things that have improved my own life:

  1. Buying a fixer-upper and learning to DIY.
    There is a ton of work and a lot of sacrifice involved, but we have saved tens of thousands by renovating ourselves. And I think I’ve potentially benefited far more just from learning new skills and expanding my confidence in “fixing”/dealing with various unexpected challenges. Life is less stressful knowing that I can fix most of what might go wrong rather than relying on someone else.

  2. Learning about permaculture/regenerative agriculture. Planting fruit trees, bushes, etc.
    There is a lot more to be said here, but any future house I own will have fruit trees planted on day one of purchase. My 4-year-old loves picking apples/berries from our property, and I’m confident there is something fundamentally human about being able to harvest your own resources. Plus, you get to play a role in healing nature.

  3. Composting
    It’s like an ongoing science experiment that turns trash into treasure. Awesome!

  4. Visualizing and mentally preparing for potential crises.
    This is kind of a weird one, but I had a couple of near-death experiences in high school that led me to start visualizing and problem-solving potential future crises (e.g., coming across a serious accident on the highway, etc., getting locked outside in subzero temps, etc.). I’ve not only later encountered some of those exact crises, but also become more generally effective at engaging focused problem-solving skills (rather than just my stress response system) during high-stress experiences in general.

  5. Playing sports (team or otherwise) with clear opportunities for personal progression.
    Rock climbing stands out recently, given the opportunity for daily accomplishments as you overcome new bouldering routes, etc.

  6. Having a to-do list widget directly on the home screen of my phone. Specifically, this one.
    Even if you’re reasonably well-organized to begin with, it’s kind of awesome to free up cognitive resources by outsourcing some of that organization elsewhere.

I’ll keep adding as I have time/think of things, but I’ll just get this started for now. Look forward to learning from the rest of you.

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My best advice for long-term life improvement would be to get a rudimentary education in personal finance and investing as early in life as possible. US schools at least provide next to no preparation in this area.

The key to financial security for most people is to live within your means, save a reasonable amount, and invest it wisely. I started investing–completely clueless–in my late 20s and made a series of very costly (and potentially catastrophic) errors. Then I read some books, got myself educated, and got on the right track. Pretty smooth sailing ever since, but this is the wrong order!

It’s no secret I’m a Boglehead, but it took me too long to get there, wasting a lot of time and energy along the way trying to “beat the system”. But whatever your personal investment strategy, at least have one that you understand.

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Lasik. I had my procedure in 2007 and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. If it’s something that’s possible for you, do it.

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Dramatically reduce the amount of time staring at a screen and focus on physical health.

I personally don’t think I can improve my mental health long term with out reducing the first and increasing the latter.

For some reason, late night workouts right before bed changed my habits, morning workouts didn’t do shit for me.

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  1. Developing the ability to say no. If I don’t want to do something then I probably just won’t do it. I’m constantly peer pressured by friends to stay out later than I want to or to be busy doing activities that I don’t care about. I respectfully just tell them I would rather not and then go do my own thing, like playing video games alone.

  2. Being honest with you significant other. My wife is my best friend. She annoys me sometimes and I politely tell her so. Sometimes I just want to be left alone to my own thoughts and she understands. Being quite about things that are important does nothing but breed resentment.

  3. Travel - understanding we all have limitations but spending time in someone else’s shoes would make the world a better place.

  4. Hold the door open for people. Seriously it’s the least you can do. It makes you feel good and maybe they will pass it along.

  5. Get a dog. I know this seems flat and stupid but getting my pup 11 years ago and spending this time with him has been priceless. He’s a bundle of joy that makes my day.

  6. Focus on discipline. I spent the majority of my youth in martial arts. I ended up receiving a 3rd degree black belt in Taekwondo. Every single second of that helped me develop discipline that I can attribute to my daily life. Gambling tilt? Anger? Decision making? Drinking? Drugs? All of its fine with discipline. This is harder or impossible for some people but finding a way to maintain it is really important for a healthy life.

  7. Relax and don’t be a dick. We’re all on this stupid ride together.

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As someone who lives 17 flight hours away from any family, i agree :(

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This is a quick one, but I typically make two massive meals on Sunday to create healthy leftovers throughout the week. Cuts down on tremendously on lunch prep, but more importantly ensures that I eat real food rather than just jamming protein bars into my bag on the way to work. I can put an hour into prepping a pot of chili and blasting a wok full of pad thai, then enjoy a rotation of awesome lunches until the next weekend rolls around.

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I have worn contacts since I was 13. I’m almost 40 and haven’t gotten lasik. I’m scared for some reason. I can’t see unless I have contacts or glasses. I’m worried about having dry eyes or something weird that sucks. It’s irrational but I keep putting contacts in my eyes everyday…

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My vision is not nearly as bad as yours, but I’ve always had the same fear of LASIK. I understand the risk of something going wrong is very very low, but if it does, it’s my eyes/vision.