Small hacks in our life – like daily habits that take ten minutes – are a great way to change your life. The barrier to entry is low and the simplicity makes it attainable – even for people like me who are ultra-simplistic about everything.

Let’s start with 10 minute habits you shouldn’t do. Many of you are doing these and it’s having a major effect on your life.

“It’s always best to start with taking away issues before laying the foundation of new habits”

So here we go – stop these:

Comparing yourself to Instagramers.

• Their life is not better than yours, it just looks that way through a color filter and fake lighting
• The practice of comparing will only make you unhappy. Life is not a game measured by age, the level you’re at and how much money you collected when you passed go each week and got paid
• The Internet is not reality; it’s perceived reality that’s distorted for the benefit of anyone who wishes to “MONETIZE”

Watching porn while masturbating.

• Don’t pretend you aren’t doing this. It’s okay and admitting it is crucial
• Porn makes you think about sex in a fucked-up way that will ruin your relationships
• The people in the videos you watched have to suffer and not watching it helps them in the long-term (if we stop watching ‘en masse’ that is)
• Orgasming will become harder without porn if you don’t stop
• Real sex is far better than made up porn stories

Getting angry at traffic.

• Don’t waste your energy on stuff you can’t control
• Use time in traffic to listen to a podcast – problem solved
• Your career is a choice and so is traffic

Trading cryptocurrency so you can get rich.

• It’s similar to watching porn and the game never ends
• Of all the things you can trade it’s the riskiest and most addictive
• Even if you do make money, you’ll probably lose it through greed
• Once you’ve experienced lots of money you’ll see (like I did) that meaning and purpose are far more fulfilling
• Following the herd is how you end up financially poor in the long run

Binging on junk food.

• We all have hard days at work and suffocating yourself with food is not the answer
• Junk food is another addiction that doesn’t serve you and sucks away the energy you need to live life to the maximum
• Discipline in life is how you reach long-term success. There are no shortcuts and we all experience the same set of feelings and emotions. How you deal with them determines whether you’ll be Elon Musk or Johnny NoName

All the things I listed above are habits that each of us have fallen for – let’s not deny it. Now we know what to avoid, we can look at the other side of the coin.

Adding in a few simple habits that take no time at all will help stack the odds of life in your favor.

“Taking the stairs instead of the lift will always produce better results and it can be fun too!”

Start doing these:

Tetris before bed

• Helps to turn the mind off and it’s hard not to focus because you’ll lose the game if you do
• It’s fun and helps stroke the part of your brain that likes things neat and tidy
• Tetris allows you to finish the day completing an activity that you’ll probably do well at
• The more you do this before bed, the better you get. Progress feels good before sleep

Napping at lunchtime

• Eat a healthy lunch, so you have time left to nap
• A quick nap gives you a boost of energy and it feels good
• Napping stops the mind chatter briefly

Meditate

• Can be done anywhere and helps you recover. Efficient work needs several moments throughout the day where there is recovery. Meditation helps achieve this goal
• Helps bring you back to the present from the brief stops you make a hundred times a day in the future and the past

One inspiring Ted Talk (okay that’s 18 minutes – who’s timing, right?)

• Improves your listening skills
• Gain a different perspective
• Challenges your current beliefs
• Opens you up to new ideas
• Gives you titles of books you can read
• It’s entertaining and sometimes funny
• It’s way better than watching Netflix

Speak to a homeless person

• Allows you to see how wealthy you are
• Gives you perspective
• Enables you to help, if you wish
• Makes you question the meaning of your life
• Allows you to change someone’s life, if you choose
• Helps you see the harsh effects of drugs (a lot of the time)

Write down three things you’re grateful for

• Pushes the mind to override negative thoughts for things that are going right
• It’s a good practice to help you reflect
• Forces you to see the good even on the toughest days
• Lets you journal, if you choose
• Gets you out of your head
• Opens up opportunities to thank people who helped you rock your day

Jump on a trampoline or 10 minutes of another physical activity

• Gets your lazy ass moving
• Wakes you up and disrupts your thought patterns
• Has positive mental effects
• Creates energy in the body that translates into fuel that can be used for your goals
• Makes you feel more positive

Calming tea before bed (Chamomile or California Poppy Extract)

• Helps relax you before bed
• Gets you to sleep faster
• Promotes a deeper sleep
• Gives you more energy for tomorrow
• Tastes yummy and is a reward for a hard day’s work

This last 10-minutes spent drinking tea has really changed the game for me. I’ve struggled with energy and only just realized it was because of my sleep patterns. A calming tea before bed has helped knock me out and stopped me thinking about the day that just passed.

Final Thought

It’s easy to think that changing your life is some mammoth task that you’ll start in a month, year or week from now. You never will. All change starts with something small. Pick one habit above to start with and then see how you go. Add small ten-minute hacks to your day and watch your results multiply.

If all you got from this post was one way to chill, feel good or you saw a negative habit and stopped doing it, then my job is done. Anything more than that is a huge win that you deserve.

Now go out there and change your life!

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