101 Ways To Live Better: Track Your Successes

Welcome to my 101 series, which explores 101 little things you can do to improve your day to day life, and the world, just a little bit.

Our fourteenth post is: TRACK YOUR SUCCESSES

It's a proven fact that we remember failures and criticisms longer than successes and praises. This awesome TEDtalk by Alison Ledgerwood on youtube discusses some interesting studies about how the human brain processes negativity:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XFLTDQ4JMk

Her findings suggest it is much harder for the brain to convert negativity (losses) to positivity (gains). Which is why if one person tells us our new shirt makes us look fat, and three people tell us it looks great, we’re likely to never wear that shirt again. The negativity carries a lot more weight in our brain.

But what does that mean for our self-perception and our own judgment of our successes and achievements? It means we’re more likely to remember all the times we failed, than the times we succeeded.

I can’t remember every awesome stew I have made—there have been a lot. However, I do remember two stews with crystal clarity. One, where the lid of the pepper fell of and rendered the whole thing inedible and one where I had company over and it inexplicably burned. Both of these failures are profoundly memorable. To me, at least. It's unlikely anyone else remembers either event.

So how do you train your brain away from this negativity? On some level, you can’t. Remembering failure is critical to survival. You have to remember negativity things vividly, so you can avoid them in the future. This is why we can often go off certain foods for life if we are exposed to them right before we throw up. It is a basic survival instinct that is hardwired into being human.

You can’t stop being human, but you can train yourself to be more aware of positive things and pay more attention to them. If you give them more weight, they can start to balance out the negativity you are programmed to hold on to.

There are several popular ways to do this. I think most of us are familiar with the New Year Positivity Jar. If you aren’t, the idea is that you find a large jar and every time something nice happens, you write it down, put it in the jar, and then at the end of the year, read them all out and look back on all the positive moments of the year before.

I love this idea and I think it's great for the whole family, however it is delegating positivity to one day of the year.

I also love gratitude diaries, where every day you write down 1-3 things you are grateful for. If you can’t think of anything to be grateful for, look around and ask yourself: ‘if I woke up tomorrow with ONLY what I said I was grateful for today, what would I write down?’. Suddenly you’ll have a whole list of people, things, places, memories, concepts and experiences to be grateful for. It's about learning not to take things for granted.

I like to keep a notebook, and every time something nice happens, or I achieve a goal, I write it down. However, since it's a notebook and not a jar, I can flip through it every week and remind myself of all the great stuff that has happened whenever I am stressed or down.

However, there is another very traditional way to share and express gratitude and positivity. Saying grace.

Grace has always been about thankfulness. Saying what we appreciate, thanking God for the things we have, thanking each other for the things we have, sharing positivity and time with the family. I think it is a fantastic tradition to maintain, showing as it shows our children how to be grateful and think positively. You can’t just tell them to ‘think positive’, you need to show them by being positive yourself and giving them an internal script.

Take home exercise:

To get you started, open wordpad or get a notebook and pen and write down the following:

- Three good things that have happened to you this year, no matter how big or small.

- Three people you are glad are in your life.

- Five things you are grateful for.

- Three things you enjoy doing, that make you feel good.

The more often you do exercises like this, the more your brain will be trained to reorganize and appreciate the positives. Stay happy!

101 Ways To Live Better: Bulk Cooking

Welcome to my 101 series, which explores 101 little things you can do to improve your day to day life, and the world, just a little bit.

Our tenth post is: BULK COOK
  
Bulk cooking is a great way to save money and time and stay healthy. The idea is that once a week (or even once a fortnight) you do a big cook up and portion out meals for the fridge and freezer over the coming weeks.

You do all the shopping and cooking on the same day. Then you no longer have to cook through the week, decide what you’re going to eat, or rely on take aways. There is a huge range of meals that can be frozen and reheated and depending how many pots you have, or how fast you are at washing them, you can bulk cook 3-6 different meals in a day. You will need a lot of tupperware to store it all though!

Meals that can be bulk cooked and frozen:

- Lasagna
- Soups and stews
- Pies and Shepperd's pies
- Curries
- Pizzas
- Pasta sauces
- Meat skewers
- Chili

You can look up literally thousands of recipes online and will probably find a lot of options I haven’t listed here.

Like all things, there are pros and cons. So I will outline them here. First the cons:

- If you have a small kitchen and limited pots and pans, you might only be able to do one meal at a time with clean up in between.
- If you have a small freezer, you might not be able to store very much at all.
- Lunch and dinners for two weeks requires at least 28 tupperware or food containers, and room to keep them in the freezer.
- If you have more than one person to cook and freeze for, the space and tupperware needed is even higher.
- You might get bored having the same 4-6 meals twice a day for a fortnight.


However the pros far outweigh the cons in every possible way. Obviously if you just don’t have the freezer space then it might be impossible, however I think it is even worth looking for a chest freezer you can keep in the garage or anywhere else you have space. The long list of pros include:

- Huge amount of time saved.
- Decision making energy saved.
- If you are trying to lose weight, having planned, portioned meals that you can just defrost and eat will be a huge help.
- Meals you make yourself will be healthier and you will know exactly what is in them.
- Buying and cooking in bulk is cheaper than buying small portions for every night. Plus it will cost less to prepare.
- It's a lot more convenient and less stressful.
- There are hundreds of recipe books dedicated to bulk cooking, thousands of youtube videos and hundreds of thousands of recipes online. So even if you are eating the same meals for two weeks at a time, you never have to eat them again, as there will always be new, exciting recipes to try.


Here are some links to help you get started:

Cooking safety:
https://www.health.qld.gov.au/news-alerts/news/bulk-cooking-food-poisoning

Youtube searches:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bulk+cooking+recipes

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=freezer+meals+recipes


Bulk cooking on popular recipe websites:

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/collections/freezer-friendly

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/batch-cooking

https://www.jamieoliver.com/family/freezer-friendly-recipes/?

https://theorganisedhousewife.com.au/organising/kitchen-organising/meal-ideas-for-the-freezer/

101 Ways To Live Better: Quit Your Bad Habit

Welcome to my 101 series, which explores 101 little things you can do to improve your day to day life, and the world, just a little bit.

Our ninth post is: QUIT YOUR BAD HABIT
 
My father smoked every day from when he was fifteen. I tried to convince him to quit for years, I warned him it would kill him.

He’d say: “We all have to die from something.”

And I’d say: “Pick something less stupid.”

He didn’t. He died of throat cancer at 60. My youngest brother was twelve.

We all have bad habits and if yours is smoking, it has a 50% chance of being what kills you. Even if you don’t smoke, we all have at least one bad habit. Maybe its drinking or prescription drugs. Maybe it's something less harmful like chewing your nails or spending too much time on facebook. Whatever it is, it's called a bad habit because its detrimental to your life in some way.

Your life would be better, however slightly, if you could kick this habit!

Some research suggests the best way to kick an old habit is to replace it with a good one. Our habits fulfil a need. We are seeking some sort of gratification, and the habit gives it to us somehow. We smoke because it feels good. We open facebook because we get a rush. Even chewing our nails feels good at the time, even if we hate ourselves afterward.

You can’t just leave a void when you kick a habit, you need to put something else in its place. Preferably something that also makes you feel good, but is productive in some way. It helps to make a list of small, productive things you can do that make you feel good. The idea being, when you catch yourself about to do the bad habit, you do the good habit instead.

A good example might be, every time you go to open facebook, instead open your manuscript (if you are writing one) and write a single sentence. If you casually go to open facebook as often as I do, you could potentially write an entire novel that way in a few months.

Maybe every time you want a smoke, you can read a few pages of a book. Or every time you go to bite your nails, you can put something away that’s lying around where it shouldn’t.

Sometimes, rewards can be a great motivation to drop a bad habit. Let's say you want to quit drinking. You got rid of all the alcohol in the house, you have replaced drinking in the evening with reading a chapter of a book, and now you want to reward yourself. Maybe if you stay sober for 30 days, you can reward yourself with a spa day. Or those new boots you really need. If you stay sober for a whole year, take that trip to Spain you’ve always wanted. Then when temptation comes along, you can ask yourself: “Do I want this drink, or do I want to go to Spain?”

There are plenty of systems out there to help you quit. The best place to look is often your phone. Search the apps store for motivational and tracking software that works for you. My favorite is Habitica, which I use to promote good habits, rather than punishing bad ones. It works on my phone and my PC and I love it. (https://habitica.com/)

Remember, some bad habits can be dangerous to quit. If you are a drug addict or a heavy drinker, it is best to quit under medical supervision. If any of your bad habits are the result of a mental illness, please speak to your psychologist or health care professional before taking drastic measures to motivate yourself. I want you to be happy, healthy and safe at all times, because I love you guys.

101 Ways To Live Better: Good Bed, Good Shoes

Welcome to my 101 series, which explores 101 little things you can do to improve your day to day life, and the world, just a little bit.

Our fourth post is: GOOD BED, GOOD SHOES

Most people spent their lives either wearing shoes or in bed. The periods we are not wearing shoes or in bed are exceptions. In between times. You could say the same about clothes, of course. However, clothes don’t affect our health in the same way as shoes and beds.

Posture and sleep are both vital to our longevity. Our spine is the core of our bodies and our bed and shoes will affect our spine’s health as much as how we sit and how we exercise. Yet for some reason, many people don’t invest in comfortable beds and supportive shoes.

The quality of your sleep affects a lot more than just your posture. It affects your mental health, your weight loss, your alertness, your digestion and your satisfaction with life. You’re going to spend a third of your life in bed. Buy a good one! Yes, a good bed can be very expensive, but think of a bed like a car. A big, important purchase. One you expect to have to save for—and one that will cost you a lot more in the long run if you end up with a lemon!

When it comes to shoes, women tend to make much worse choices than men. Women sacrifice comfort and health for aesthetics—in particular heels—which are terrible for your legs and spine, no matter how good they make your ass look.

Buy good quality, supportive footwear without a heel. Save being tall for special occasions. Make sure to find shoes that fit properly and that don’t require you to hurt muscles to walk in. If you aren’t sure what the best sort of shoe is, see a podiatrist.

Remember, the world’s most famous foot model refuses to wear heels except while she is working and only then while the photos are being taken. She doesn’t want to damage her feet. So, if a foot model refuses to wear them, imagine what they are doing to you.

Buying good shoes and a good bed are worthwhile investments. Personally, I’d rather just have three pairs of really good expensive shoes (everyday, fancy and outdoors/hiking) than 40 shitty pairs that hurt my feet, fall apart and ruin my spine. It also makes choosing which shoes to go with my outfit really easy. In fact, it makes organizing my wardrobe and buying new clothes really easy too. I don’t have to wonder if they will go with any shoes I own, because I am probably already wearing the shoes in question. It makes life simple, comfortable and uncluttered.

And imagine how nice it would be to get a proper night’s sleep? To wake up rested and without any aching parts? No sinus issues, no back pain, no fatigue. And when you are buying a good bed, buy nice sheets and replace your pillows with good quality pillows every six months.

Investing in a good bed is like investing in education. Its serving your future. And you don’t need all those shoes anyway.