Life Hacks:

Sahil Bloom’s Most Powerful Life Hacks - a series:

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.

Confucius

The spirit of this quote rings true: We humans have a tendency to manufacture complexity. We make progress in our lives—personally or professionally—and decide that the best way to celebrate that progress is to sprinkle on a new bit of chaos.

It's a rather frustrating (and hilarious) species-wide trait:

We book the relaxing vacation, only to fill every moment of it with activities that leave us more drained at the end than we were at the beginning.

We get the promotion that will reduce our money stress, so we celebrate by buying the boat that is constantly in need of servicing and repairs.

We feel busy and stressed, so we cut something out of our lives, only to feel stressed about not feeling busy, so we add something back in.

We can all come together and laugh at our "complexification" of life. But after we have that good, hearty laugh, let's talk about ways to simplify it.

Here are some short, timeless insights for simplifying your world—"hacks" for your life, careers, relationships, health, money, and more...

When trying to learn something new, attempt to teach it to a friend or family member.

See what questions they ask and how those questions expose the gaps in your knowledge. Study more to fill in those gaps. The act of teaching is the most powerful form of learning.

Download a free focus app (I like Flow) to execute short sprints of focused work.

The app will restrict any apps you want from being opened during your block. If you're prone to checking your phone, put it in another room so that you physically can't see or touch it.

Tell your partner one thing you appreciate about them every single day.

As time passes in any relationship, taking the good for granted becomes easy. Don't fall into this trap. Highlight the good!

Pasta Lighter

You’re probably stocking up on sweet-smelling candles to make your home extra cozy for the colder months. But, if your candles burn too low to reach the wick, there's no reason to go without your favourite scent. Instead of burning your fingers, light a piece of uncooked spaghetti. It’ll reach into those deep candles and burn long enough to light all the candles on Grandpa’s birthday cake!

Remove Highlighter Stains

Ever wish you could remove highlighter marks from a book? Lemon juice fades highlighter enough to make it virtually undetectable. Cut a lemon in half and get some juice on a cotton swab. Run the swab over the highlighted text and watch the colour fade. Lemon juice from a container also seems to do the trick, though not quite as well on the pieces we tested. The older the mark, the more stubborn it is to remove.