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 you think something nice about someone, let them know.

It's a shame we often wait until a person's funeral to say all of the nice things we think about them. The next time you have a positive thought about someone, tell them right then.

If you’re trying to have a conversation with someone you feel intimidated by, ask what they're currently working on that they're most excited about.

It's a simple question, but it gets them talking and animated. Ask follow-ups and listen intently.

When you meet someone, say their name back to them once in conversation.

Once is enough to cement it in your mind, and if you do it more than once, it starts to sound phony.

Identify Your Keys at a Glance

It seems the older I get, the more keys I carry around. Between the car, house, shed and garage, I have a whole pocket full of keys. To make it easier to quickly find my most used keys, I paint both sides of the key head with brightly coloured nail polish. I use a different colour for each key. The nail polish is extremely durable and you’ll be surprised how much

longer it lasts than spray paint.

Pool Noodle Water Hose

If you need to fill up a bucket that won’t fit under your sink’s faucet, bust out a pool

noodle. Set the bucket on the floor, slip the pool noodle over the faucet and run it down to the bucket.