9 boring ideas that will give you an unfair advantage in life and work

Untethered Mind, Wednesday Edition, 4-min read.

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9 boring ideas that will give you an unfair advantage in life and work

We're all dopamine zombies looking for that hit.

That's why you're here.

You love it when you come across a unique idea you may put into practice. Except many of us don't. We're just here for that hit.

What if I gave you some rather dull ideas for a change?

Maybe they'll help you even more because they're so simple anyone can do it.

That's why they're boring.

But could they change your life?

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Walk more than 5,000 steps every single day.

The benefits are clear. This keeps you energised.

It's great for posture and extends your life.

Walk, and walk more than seems reasonable within a day.

Go with the flow.

Another way of saying this is to stop resisting reality.

You have that call coming up later, and you're sort of dreading it and you hope they'll cancel. You're resisting something that hasn't even happened yet. And you feel stress because a stressful thought is always felt.

You have the choice to resist less.

And this can start in the body.

Let go. What a relief. It's a physical game as much as it is a mental game.

You'll find everything gets better when you have the courage to drop your shoulders regardless of what's coming next.

Consume less.

You don't need to stuff your pie hole with food all day. Eating three square meals at the same time every day for your entire life is social programming. Sure, you can do it.

But you don't need to continually be eating or snacking. This applies to other forms of consumption, too, like video games.

You know you're doing it mostly out of habit and boredom anyway.

Go nine hours without eating (or watching tv, for e.g.) in the day and see what that does for your energy.

Keep a tidy environment.

I'm not perfect, but I am a Virgo. I've often cringed at the sheer state of some people's homes (more appropriate to call them 'Filth Dens').

Get rid of that clutter, and do it regularly. Get a cleaner, for God's sake. You're living here.

The more cluttered your living environment, the more cluttered your mind.

Your health, your mind and your environment all interlink. Sort it out, and you will feel the benefits instantly.

Be unreasonably upbeat.

Yes, I get it. There's all sorts of crap happening in your life right now that you can't possibly be upbeat about.

But be upbeat anyway. Set it off like a virus that others pick up subconsciously.

The best time to practice this is when you don't feel like it.

So you may need to do a bit of play-acting.

But this will soon morph into the real thing.

You're making yourself happy, and a happy you is a more productive you.

Embrace boredom.

Philosopher Blaise Pascal said,

"All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone."

People pursue excitement and often make terrible decisions in this chase.

They block themselves off from creativity, better decisions and innovation when they continually escape.

Boredom is a necessary part of the creative process. When you see this, you may no longer see it as boredom. It becomes a doorway to what we call the 'void.'

It's here where the most beautiful creative ideas are born.

Cook at home.

Uber Eats is calling - it's time for that bumper haul of spring rolls, tacos and oozing cheese pastries.

Great, except that eat-out stuff tends to be crammed full of toxic seed oils, sugar and ungodly amounts of salt.

When you cook at home, using unprocessed ingredients, you're forced to eat better.

Plus, you can see it as a mindful exercise that gives you something to do besides work.

Keep it simple too.

How about meat, mashed potatoes and asparagus? Now we're talking.

Become a Breathing Badass.

It seems like most of us have breathing covered. We can even do it in our sleep.

But we can also use breathing as a tool for calm.

Set aside some time each day for concentrated breathing.

It need only be five minutes of long, slow nasal breaths, but many struggle with even that.

You will centre yourself during this exercise. That five minutes can have a positive effect on the next several hours.

Quit your vice.

I know. Yawn. But too often, we have a vice, whether smoking or eating junk food, claiming it as a necessary part of a happy life.

'It's one of the few things that keeps me happy,' you might say.

And I get it.

But you forget the pleasure you will feel when you're off the stuff. This is real. The former is fake.

You might not get the short-term pupil-dilating hit of the vice, but you'll generally be calmer and more confident.

That's the kind of hit I'm looking for.

Practice patience.

Like, holy wow Alex, really? Patience?

Yes. Yes patience.

We live in a quick-fix world. We've become conditioned to getting stuff fast. But all this makes you more agitated because your expectations are through the roof.

I get frustrated when a minute-long microwave spin seems like it's taking too long.

But guess what? I'm stressed. I lose in the end.

You can't cheat time.

And when you're at ease with what you have, you'll do better, make better decisions, and do it faster anyway.

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