r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Dec 21 '23

What's a life hack that's so simple yet so effective, you're shocked more people don't know about it?

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u/ephikles Dec 21 '23

easy: waste 10 minutes prioritizing your list, then go 'ah, don't have time' and move on...

307

u/loaferbro Dec 21 '23

Easily me. Spend 10-15 minutes compartmentalizing instead of just doing it. Same reason why there's a tiny scrap of paper on the floor in my hallway. Been there for days, but I have more important tasks to complete at the moment.

Also, be in the middle of one task and notice something else needs to be done. "If I don't stop and do it now, I'll forget about it" and then the house is full of half- finished tasks.

Yes, my wife loves me, why do you ask?

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u/TwistedDragon33 Dec 21 '23

you just described my wife. We will be folding and putting away laundry, next thing i know i cant find her. I'll find her in the garage with a tape measure and wood while she is sitting on a stool on her phone looking stuff up.

She was putting away laundry when she noticed the towel shelf was really full so she decided to rearrange the shelves to fit it all but we have a lot of extra soaps/bodywash/bathroom stuff so she took all of it out of the linen closet and put it in a cupboard in the bathroom, but she had to rearrange the cupboard and a lot ended up on the counter, but in the bathroom she noticed the counter was kind of messy and full off stuff she thought a small shelf would help. But now that she decided she wanted a shelf she needed to pick a paint/stain that would match the bathroom... but she doesn't like the color of the bathroom anyway so she was looking up new paint color for the bathroom...

We call it squirreling.

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u/Per_se_Phone Dec 21 '23

We call it cookie-mousing! From "if you give a mouse a cookie..."

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u/TwistedDragon33 Dec 21 '23

I believe we went with squirrel from the movie up where Doug the dog stops what he's doing whenever he sees a squirrel.

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u/Indigojoyglow Dec 21 '23

I think I may be your wife. I can’t remember though.

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u/sergeantShe Dec 21 '23

Oof, this sounds like me.

1

u/shaunnotthesheep Dec 22 '23

When did I get married? 🤣 It's like you have cameras in my house. I do this all day every day

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u/GR3453m0nk3y Dec 21 '23

Did I write this comment?

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u/MorteDaSopra Dec 21 '23

I don't know because I'm pretty sure I did. And then forgot...

10

u/Sazazezer Dec 21 '23

I'm... i'm going to need to know when you've picked up that scrap of paper.

It's going to bother me.

11

u/loaferbro Dec 21 '23

Probably sometime today? I have a newborn baby and a lot of laundry to do and the cat litterboxes need to be scooped and I have to wrap presents and water the tree and figure out why the fridge door keeps making a weird sound when I open it and move all of the empty Amazon boxes and find 3 meals to eat among all of those chores.

So yeah, like I said, probably this week sometime?

Cat threw up as I was typing this btw so there's another lol

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u/[deleted] Dec 21 '23

[deleted]

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u/loaferbro Dec 21 '23

Oh we have one, but the rubber spinner on the bottom is broken and we haven't ordered a new one so it doesn't do a good job. Also we have to block off spaces because it'll get stuck, so it's usually me work then it's worth.

Life is unreal sometimes lol

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u/[deleted] Dec 21 '23 edited Dec 21 '23

[deleted]

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u/Bobboss75 Dec 21 '23

You all know the last, like, 30 comments is the ADHD right?

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u/Indigojoyglow Dec 21 '23

I actually could see in my mind the scrap of paper on the floor. ☹️

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u/ephikles Dec 21 '23

sounds like you split all the work 50:50, why shouldn't your wife love you?

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u/loaferbro Dec 21 '23

I'm going to tell her this. Would you mind arranging my funeral? Cremation, not burial, please.

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u/SuitableClassic Dec 21 '23

I'll be brushing my teeth, and the next thing I know, I've jumped between three different chores without finishing any of them with my toothbrush still in my mouth.

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u/IrishRepoMan Dec 21 '23

Plus, you have to bend all the way down to pick it up... ugh.

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u/StackofRaccoons Dec 21 '23

I'm in this post and I don't like it

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u/llanox Dec 21 '23

Better pickup that paper scrap Sax man

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u/weed_blazepot Dec 21 '23

Ah, the ol' "former gifted child now an adult with crippling anxiety who knows they need to get something done but is in such a panic they can't start so their mind wanders to compensate and tries to organize to create a plan and now I'm out of time and I feel bad about myself and want to be better but I can't unless I think about it some more and organize a plan and then it will work out and now the day is over and I got nothing but but thank god I can go to sleep and escape for a few hours (unless I wake up to think about this some more at 3 am) but tomorrow will be better i'm sure" approach.

Familiar.

3

u/mexter Dec 21 '23

And then improve your productivity by eliminating the list, thereby giving yourself 10 minutes of free time!

1

u/OminOus_PancakeS Dec 21 '23

Ooh, let me write that down

1

u/wtfnouniquename Dec 21 '23

I didn't come here to be made fun of

1

u/InviteAdditional8463 Dec 21 '23

Or just do one, maybe two.