The littlest things can make the biggest difference

I am in the same boat. I am basically paying $90/mo for Comcast's "normal" hi-def package sans DVR so I can mainly watch sports (NBA, college basketball, NFL, college football, and MLB in order), along with a few random shows that I like. When I move this summer, I would like to drop Comcast entirely if possible. I already have a system lined up for automatically downloading the shows that I watch, but sports will be the big hang up. For a while I only had standard cable and made it a point to go out to the bar for games I wanted to watch in HD, but that quickly became MORE expensive than bending over for Comcast every month.

Focus: Biking. I used to be an avid biker, but fell out of it some years ago. Very recently I decided to get back into riding, even for things like going to the grocery store to pick stuff up for dinner, and it's actually quite liberating. I kind of feel like a kid again as retarded as that sounds. Biking, combined with cutting way back on the amount of alcohol I drink during the week, will hopefully show some results over the course of the summer.

 

.

 

Mods that are actually around moderating. It's the littlest things.

 

Like a few others have mentioned, the whole making a bunch of food at once is a huge help when I'm really feeling lazy yet hungry. Just grab a pre-made meal out of the freezer, pop it into the over/microwave and wait.

I used to be terrible about overdoing it on my snooze button in the morning, so on my alarm clock I set my time ahead 30 minutes of the actual time. I never really use it to actually tell time, but if my alarm goes off and I hit the snooze a time or two, I'm still up earlier or on time for when I want to be.

 

I wrap a couple of soft, aloe-vera tissues around, leaving an enclosed space at the end for collection; it looks like a little KKK hood. No muss, no fuss, which means I only have to be left covered in the sticky mess of shame, wondering if I could have spent this time teaching the kid something important.

Focus: Now when I buy childish toys, I can say they're for the boy. He doesn't really give a shit at this point (6 months old today), his favourite toy is a rattle he loves to chew on, but I'm amassing a matchbox/hotwheelz collection of classic cars, among other things.

 

New focus: This thread is now about masturbation habits? What happened to the original focus...es? Focusi?

Old Focus: I've started determining what I want to accomplish for the day when I first wake up. Then I go about and actually accomplish it and don't wind up quite as sidetracked and distractable as usual. It's a really minor and seemingly obvious change, but I've had to consciously make a point of doing it and it's paid off in focus and productivity.

 

I did create a budget that gave me an idea of generally where my money goes. I don't track every cent, but I need to know categories. How much I spent on cabs/bars/food/groceries, beyond the monthly bills.

I also just recently started a diet reducing carbs. I'm now not farting every other minute which is pleasant to everyone, I'm sure.

 

My life has changed drastically in the last three months. One of the changes was quiting drinking and drugs. Of course, that's not the little thing I'm talking about. However, as a result of this lifestyle change I've had to find a lot of little things to fill the void booze, cocaine and weed left in my life. One of those things is swimming.

While I'm not fat by any means, I never played sports in high school nor in my adult life (other than a couple seasons of softball) and have always hated exercise and had a pretty soft body because of that hate. Swimming, however, does't suck nearly as much as everything else. The best part is I can push myself really hard and not feel like I want to die afterwards. It's even motivated me to start exercising with a jump rope and other core-strengthening exercises. While I still hate that shit, I'm now able to grin and bear it because I was able to condition myself a little bit with swimming.

 

Stopping drinking drastically made the quality of my relationships increase and the quantity of pointless buddies decrease.

Cutting out anyone from Google+, Facebook and Skype that I genuinely don't want to speak to made those resources consume much less time and made me appreciate them more. I deleted around 400 people from Facebook recently, and it vastly increased the value of the site as a way to share pictures and coordinate with friends when I didn't have a phone. I would be tempted to delete it entirely if not for the fact that I'm planning on leaving the US again soon.

Also, setting a goal of 3 books per week has really reduced my bullshit time and made me a lot more focused for school. No nonsense tv, and if I get halfway through a movie and I realize "I'd rather be reading my book", I call it a shitty movie and turn it off. Having a reading goal keeps me on track.

Finally, setting a "3 weeks and then I'll buy it" rule for anything outside of food made me save tons of money on frivolous shit like gadgets and books that collect dust.

 

I've been trying to take steps to ensure that I stay on track with school. Even now during summer break I am making sure to stay in touch with financial aid, and my academic adviser just to make sure I graduate on time. All of this is for the larger gain of getting my life going in a positive and productive direction.

I have found that just making a point of doing my work, and actually attending classes, has made school MUCH less stressful this time around.

 

In the last six months I've changed my eating and drinking habits for the better and discovered that without junk in my fridge I can actually cook. Cut away a lot of the bullshit people in my life and as a result have been the happiest I've been in a long time.

 

It's not about big life changes. It's about the minute little everyday things, like

or

or

that can really make a big difference without concerted long term effort.

Focus: When I take my socks off I wrap them in each other. Haven't lost a sock since I started doing this. Also I started giving myself massages--weird but it works. Best places are hand with other hand (pinch HARD between your thumb and pointer finger and you'll find the muscle that needs working out), foot with opposite hand (the muscles in the arches get really tight--use your knuckles) and penis with either hand (rhythmic but light pressure for 5-10 minutes works wonders).

 

- No more buying shit on eBay when I'm baked.

- Forcing myself to travel 3-4 days every other week. Sales are up, my motivation has returned, I'm enjoying the gig again. All positives.

- Since February I've made it a point of getting 7 hours of sleep a night. I thought I was running well on 6 but I have so much more energy since adding the extra hour. It's ridiculous.

 

I actually took the advice of ^^ Mr. Fawkes ^^ and started using four hour work week strategies. Actually checking (and replying to) my email only twice a day has already cut down on a considerable amount of bullshit with superiors and students. I'm covering my ass by making it a policy but also making myself look incredibly responsible when return emails come back at the same times every day. It's amazing how easily people have fallen into line and are now censoring themselves. One student actually said, "Well, I knew it was past the night email time, so I realized it wasn't that important." Fuck yeah. (And thanks!!)

 

Pack the gym bag the night before.

Not having to spend that 5 minutes hunting around for clothes, shoes, etc. in the dark and the cold has made my gym attendance improve, from 1-2 a week to 3-4. Get up, grab, and go, and I'm halfway there before my brain is awake and protesting about the workout.

 

Kind of along the lines of the above, actually giving a damn about my body. Between cleaning up my diet (calorie counting, getting a lot of protein) and lifting weights, my life has improved considerably. I feel better about myself, I'm healthier, and it's fun as hell. If you're thinking you should really get in the gym, fucking do it. It's awesome.

 

I got an iPod last year. My home is now clean, and I am in the best shape in years.

I always thought I was just a lazy fuck, but it turns out at least part of it is having ADD and requiring a very high level of stimuli to stay on a task. Normal everyday routines like doing the dishes or going for a run used to bore me within minutes, so they would never get done. Since I got the blessed iPod, however, I always have a bunch of podcasts on fascinating shit I want to listen to. Since I wouldn't be able to pay attention if I just sat around and listened, I have to fill those hours with doing something mechanical and mundane to keep my brain occupied. Hence, a Freakonomics Podcast marathon will teach me cool things, but more importantly I will also go for a run and vacuum the house.

Seriously, if you think of yourself as suffering from lazyfuckitude, try it. It is amazing to me that something so little can change so much.