Little Things That Can Seriously Improve the Quality of Your Life
Here are ten more tiny things that can massively enhance your life from your physical health, mental performance, relationships, and so much more:
1. Avoid Your Phone In The Morning
76% of people check their phone within 30 minutes of waking up. While it might seem like an innocent peek, it’s one of the worst things you can do if you want to be productive, creative, and motivated.
Seeing things like emails or messages puts you in a state of reaction, impairs your focus, and floods your mind with tasks (and stresses) before you even started your day. Worse, this info clutters your mind so you can’t be fully present. (In fact, having your phone near you uses your brainpower to avoid it.) Checking notifications even makes your brain release dopamine, which can make checking your phone into an actual addiction.
Avoid your phone for an hour after you wake up. (The longer, the better.) Keep it off or on Airplane Mode so you don’t feel compelled to look.
2. No Electronics Before Bed
90% of Americans use electronics before bed, which is terrible for your sleep: The bright light from TVs, phones, and computers affects your circadian rhythm, reduces deep sleep, and prevents your mind from unwinding.
Limit your use of electronics one hour before going to bed. If you really need to use them, install an app like f.lux that reduces the blue light from your screen. Also, set your phone on Airplane Mode or Do Not Disturb to block notifications so you don’t feel the urge to check them before sleep.
3. Blackout Shades
After staying in 50+ Airbnbs, I’ve noticed most have terrible sleep hygiene. The bedrooms have too much light pollution from outside, which hurts sleep quality, especially the REM kind.
If you want better sleep, make your bedroom super dark by investing in 100% blackout shades. If you’d rather not install them (or your windows don’t permit them), buy a good sleep mask—one big enough to block light from seeping around the edges.
Trust me; once you do, it might be your best night of sleep in a long time.
4. Ditch Old Clothes
I’ve been living out of a tiny carry-on suitcase for almost 2 straight years of travel now, and I love it. The less I own, the more I have.
If you have a closet packed with clothes you haven’t worn in ages, get rid of them. It might be hard at first, but you’ll soon feel liberated donating, selling, or tossing them.
It’s not just the physical space; it’s mental space too. There’s less clutter, less stress, and less decision fatigue. Now, you have more space, more peace, and more purpose behind everything you own.
It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.
— BRUCE LEE
5. Sunscreen
At the risk of sounding like a Baz Luhrmann song, “the long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists.” Meanwhile, sun damage is the biggest danger to your skin and causes a lot of health problems.
I started wearing sunscreen daily about eight years ago and I never looked back. In LA, it was essential to protect my skin from the endless sunny days and, in Denver, from the high elevation.
Wear sunscreen on your face and other exposed areas like your arms and neck. (Don’t forget your ears.)