1% Better: A List of 100 Organization Hacks, You Are Not Your Emotions, and Addiction Vs. Happiness


By Colby Kultgen

A List of 100 Organization Hacks, You Are Not Your Emotions, and Addiction Vs. Happiness

Read online / Read time: 4 minutes

Today at a Glance:

• List: 100 hacks to sort out your life
• Reframe: You're not your emotions
• Tweet: Addiction vs happiness
• Article: Don’t outsource humanity
• Funny: Penguin publishing


A list of 100 tiny tricks to sort out your life

This is one of my favorite articles of the last couple years.

The Guardian crowdsourced useful organization hacks from readers and compiled a list of the 100 best.

As a generally unorganized person, I found this incredibly helpful.

Here are a few of my favorites:

3. Try a triple list: “Every day I list three things I must do: one annoying task (eg, post letter), one uncomfortable one (eg, attend gym class) and one painful one (eg, no sugar). Having three of varying discomfort means I am more likely to do the lesser ones as a way to productively procrastinate on the bigger one.”
12. Manage subscriptions: This is boring and probably shaming, but so worthwhile. Go through bank statements for any regular payments you don’t recognise or can’t remember and check whether you are still paying subscriptions for things you don’t want or need.
20. Do a passive wardrobe audit: “At the start of the year, turn all your hangers the wrong way round. By the end of the year, if anything still isn’t facing the right way, get rid of it: if you haven’t worn it for a year, you probably won’t.”
40. Stop multitasking: “It feels efficient, but many scientific studies have shown that’s not the case”. When you’re planning your day: “Block it in such a way that you have focused attention on one thing when that’s important to you.” Make sure you communicate your plan to people around you. “Inform everyone, ‘I’m going to really need to focus on this one thing – please don’t disturb me.’”
52. Seek virtual or IRL accountability: Try logging into a livestreamed shared study and work session, such as Study Together or StudyStream. Alternatively, tell someone what you want to achieve today, and ask them to hold you to it.
65. Say no quickly: If you have to say no to something (or want to – that’s allowed!), do it immediately. That gives the asker maximum time to find alternatives.
91. Use up ‘waste’ time: “I try to use small segments of available time to accomplish something that I have been putting off. For example, if I have 15 minutes before the Uber arrives, I make an appointment or I straighten out a bit of my paperwork. By using small bits of found time, I knock individual items off my list without a huge investment in time or emotion.”

Read the full list here.


A helpful reframe about emotions

I saw this on Substack and loved it.

There's a big difference between feeling your emotions and being your emotions.

The former is healthy.
The latter, not so much.

Because when you start saying things like “I am anxious” or “I am lazy,” you're not just describing a passing state.

You're telling yourself a story about who you are.

You're turning a temporary feeling into a permanent fixture of your identity.

And the more you repeat this story, the more it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

A small shift in language helps break that loop.

P.S. Anxiety disorders are real (I know from experience). This reframe doesn’t solve that, but it can still help.


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A tweet that changed my life (seriously)

You may be wondering:

"Colby, why are you sharing a tweet from 3 years ago?"

Well, cherished reader, it's because this simple idea has turned into one of the most important rules of thumb I live by.

Basically, If fewer and fewer things are making me feel good, that’s usually a red flag.

Not necessarily that I’m “addicted” to something, but that I’m probably leaning on something in a way that’s not healthy.

Huberman expands on this tweet by saying:

Beware anything that delivers high dopamine with minimal effort. Keep the amount of effort scaled with the amount of dopamine.

This idea is also at the heart of Dopamine Nation by Dr. Anna Lembke (a fantastic book).

Her research shows that when we rely too heavily on quick dopamine hits, our brain’s baseline actually drops.

Over time, we need more stimulation just to feel “normal” (pretty much the textbook definition of addiction).

The antidote?

Leaning into effortful, meaningful activities.


An article worth 10 minutes of your time

This excerpt comes from an article called Nobody wants a robot to read them a story.

I'm sure you can guess what it's about.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I like using AI.

The last thing I want is for this newsletter to become some kind of anti-tech rant.

That’s not the point.

But I do think with any new technology, it’s important to pause and ask:

Am I outsourcing tasks that free up my energy, or the very experiences that make life meaningful?

AI can help us multiply our abilities.

But if we hand over too much, what will be left that's truly ours?


 😂

Have a great week!


P.S. Reply telling me what resonated most!

(I read and respond to them all)


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Hi! I'm Colby!

I'm obsessed with living a better life each and every day. I want to share what I learn and discover with you.

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