Life Hacks:

Doing The Thing:

A programmer and writer who goes by Loopy, on the difference between preparing to do it and actually doing it:

Things that aren't doing the thing:

Preparing to do the thing isn't doing the thing.

Scheduling time to do the thing isn't doing the thing.

Making a to-do list for the thing isn't doing the thing.

Telling people you're going to do the thing isn't doing the thing.

Messaging friends who may or may not be doing the thing isn't doing the thing.

Writing a banger tweet about how you're going to do the thing isn't doing the thing.

Hating on yourself for not doing the thing isn't doing the thing.

Hating on other people who have done the thing isn't doing the thing.

Hating on the obstacles in the way of doing the thing isn't doing the thing.

Fantasising about all of the adoration you'll receive once you do the thing isn't doing the thing.

Reading about how to do the thing isn't doing the thing.

Reading about how other people did the thing isn't doing the thing.

Reading this essay isn't doing the thing.

The only thing that is doing the thing is doing the thing.

Lampshade Lint Roller

Fabric lampshades are magnets for dust and pet hair. You can’t just throw them in the washing machine, so what do you do? I’ve found that a lint roller works really well. Be careful, though, as lampshades are fragile and can even become brittle. A torn lampshade is worse than a dirty one.

Taller Table Hack

I have a typical 1.8 metre folding table that I use to lay out certain projects. But the height of the table is meant for someone sitting in a chair. Constantly bending over when using the table was starting to hurt my back, so I came up with a solution. I used a couple of 60 cm lengths of 4 cm PVC pipe found at my local home centre, and cut four 25 cm stilts for my table. I slipped the pipes onto the legs and it raised the table about 15 cm, bringing my worksurface to a more comfortable height! The bend in the table legs at about 12 cm from the ground holds the pipes securely in place, so my table is still as sturdy as ever. The stilts can be removed if I ever need to lower the height of the table to use it while sitting in a chair.