Life doesn't get any easier with time, we just get better at handling it.
At least, that's the idea. Most of us are eager to accumulate any tips, tricks, and privileges that will help us navigate the murky waters of life with more ease.
Whether big or small, having another trick in your pocket can make all the difference in the day-to-day. Luckily, the internet is always here to spread a wealth of knowledge.
You can use the bottom of a coffee mug to put the edge back on a dull kitchen knife. The unglazed ceramic ring is harder than metal and acts as a sharpening stone.
Just run the knife over it at a 15 to 20 degree angle about 10 times each side and try slicing that tomato again. You'll notice a big difference.
When calculating percentages, the factors are interchangable. This means that 50% of 14 is the same as 14% of 50, which can make it quite a lot easier to calculate in your head sometimes.
If you have some fruits that aren't quite ripe yet, place them in a bag and put a banana in with them. The ripening banana will release a gas that speeds up the ripening process of other fruits.
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging has shown that the brain has little 'pathways' that information and dopamine and everything move along.
These can form new connections when confronted with novel stimulus, but will reinforce existing connections if the environment is stagnant.
In other words, doing things you've never done before will prompt your brain to increase the number of pathways inside it, which may help you to develop a new outlook on life or even become more creative.
Jump-starting a car.
Park close enough that the cables will reach.
Red clip to the dead battery's positive terminal (also usually red).
Red clip to the good battery's positive terminal (red again).
Black clip on the good battery's negative terminal (either black cover or uncovered).
Black clip on a piece of exposed metal on the dead car's engine block.
Start the good car and wait a minute or two, then start the dead car.
When disconnecting, don't let the positive and negative clips touch each other.
A wise person said: 'Never look down on someone, unless you are extending your hand to help them get back on their feet.'
Basic sewing stitches by hand.
Yeah, it takes more than a minute to actually fix something sewing wise.
But learning to sew a button back on your shirt or fix a minor rip in your shirt or pants makes a big difference rather than just buying new clothes when your old ones get minor tears and problems.
Talk less, listen more. Also, you don't always have to offer your opinion all the time. It's completely fine (sometimes best, even) to simply listen to people giving their opinions and acknowledge it without inserting your own, even if someone asks for it.
Heimlich. Apparently an alarming amount of people don't know what to do when someone is choking. My dad had to to run clear across a fairly busy restaurant once to save someone's kid because nobody else was doing anything.
The mom was screaming for help, everyone was aware but apparently nobody knew what to do about it.
Getting comfortable with saying 'no', and 'sorry, that's not my problem', and being polite but firm about it.
All you need to do to succeed is just be tiny bit better than yesterday. Even if you only just make one thing better than it was. Just one improvement. A tiny one. Now you know you are winning.
Invest in yourself. Doesn't have to be a lot but you have to do it daily.
Write everything down! You know why some professors allow cheat sheets in their exams but require them to be handwritten, it's a hack professors do to get students to write down everything about the topic being examined.
Usually it gets done the day before the exam, and the information learned gets solidified. When I was a student, I used to abuse the fact that I could bring in a cheat sheet and write super small.
Then I'd get into the exam and felt like I wasted a bunch of time because I didn't need most of the information on the cheat sheet (not because it wasn't being examined, but because I knew the topic).
It was only when I became a professor's aide and learned about this hack that it was such a useful tool for the professor.
The 'Rule of 70'. Want to know how long it will take an investment to double? Divide the interest rate into 70.
You are getting 7% return? 70/7 = 10 years to double your money.
You are getting 10% return? 70/10 = 7 years to double your money
People don’t always want you to solve their problems. They’d just like you to listen.
Emotional regulation can be visualized as colors. Stop thinking about specific emotions and visualize them as energy levels. Blue - no energy. Green - appropriate energy. Yellow - too much energy. Red - out of control energy.
Keep solutions simple: Blue - rest or activity to increase heart rate. Green - Continue. Yellow - Activity to slow heart rate. Red - Get away from stimuli.
It’s magic.