| Think of all activities as repeated cycles, and consider the last step of every cycle to be resetting / restocking / refilling / setting up / preparing for the next cycle. (As opposed to how most people think of it: beginning activities by doing the initial set-up.) This has at least two benefits. First, it ensures follow-through (completion of what most people consider to be the last action). And second, it lowers the activation energy to start the next cycle. Examples: - "You kill it, you fill it." When I make a cup of instant coffee and then the electric kettle is almost empty, I refill the kettle and start heating the water again before I grab my cup and return to my home office. As a result, the kettle is always full of hot water when I go back for another cup, and I don't have to go through the aggravation of refilling it and waiting around for it to heat up before I grab my next cup. (And refilling at the end is easier because I've already started doing the activity.) - Putting a new roll of toilet paper on the spindle. Likewise, if the replacement roll is the last one under the sink, restocking rolls under the sink after finishing in the bathroom. And if the package of rolls is almost empty after I restock the rolls under the sink, I immediately add TP to my grocery list. - Clearing my desk at the end of the work day and setting up my initial work materials for the morning. --- Another simple but great habit: using take-off and landing points at key places around the house to optimize in-home logistics and to avoid losing or spending time searching for things. I wrote about this here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41220059 Pair with the evergreen "A place for everything, and everything in its place." |