Here are this week’s Life Pro Tips.
01. If you come across an unexpected increase in money, don’t go telling people about it
While it’s tempting to be happy and outspoken about a stroke of good fortune – whether it’s a lump sum payout, a tax break, a significant salary increase or a lottery ticket – it’s in your best interest not to blow your horn about it.
Aside from potentially making your friends needlessly envious, people will start coming out of the woodwork for financial help. You’ll be amazed and disappointed at how many people you suddenly owe favors to, how many just can’t pay the rent, or are stuck in a bind, or expect you to shell out to because you’re now “rich.” This especially includes toxic family members. Be generous if you feel like it but keep it close to your chest. You shouldn’t even tell your employers or coworkers if your significant other get a promotion or a raise as it can significantly impact your own salary raise in the future.
We recently did an article on how to go ahead with claiming and investing your money if you win a jackpot. If you haven’t already checked it, we recommend you to check it out.
02. To meet people for dating and/or friendship, volunteer!
Doing a variety of volunteering activities opens up amazing new avenues for meeting people and getting the hell out of the house. It doesn’t always have to be some crazy good cause (animal shelter, local food bank, litter pickup, etc.) There are plenty of organizations that will gladly accept your assistance (political campaigns, community theatres, libraries, museums, etc.)
Get out of the house, and if you don’t meet anyone right away, at least you actually did something that made a difference in the world and maybe learned something new. And doing stuff and knowing stuff are attractive traits for anyone.
03. When trying to lose weight, use a smaller plate when eating
Because your food portion is larger relative to the plate, your mind will be tricked into thinking the portion is bigger overall.
Taking this one step further, limit the amount of food available to you, particularly food you would tend to eat without paying attention. When trying to lose weight generally don’t keep a lot of snack food in the house, nothing that doesn’t require several steps to prepare. Also, when preparing a meal, don’t make a lot. Only make enough for one reasonable serving. That way you can’t really get seconds because you’re already out of food.
04. Changing tabs quickly in Chrome
Most computer users know about the alt+tab which allows us to switch between different programs/windows. However, one very frustrating thing to do was to switch between tabs in Chrome, especially since I often work with around ten tabs and no mouse.
You can press Ctrl+tab to scroll through tabs. Ctrl+Shift+Tab scrolls through the opposite direction, in case you overshoot. By pressing ctrl+[numbers 1 to 0], Chrome allows you to go straight to that tab. (ctrl+1 goes to the first tab, ctrl+2 to the second one and so forth).
More shortcuts for Chrome if you are interested:
- ctrl+t = new tab
- ctrl+n = new window
- ctrl+shift+n = new inconito window
- ctrl+shift+t = restore last closed tab
- ctrl+w = close current tab
- ctrl+d = add bookmark
- ctrl+l = access url link bar
- ctrl+shift+q = close all instances of Chrome
05. Replace your “uhh”s with silence
You’ll sound smarter when you speak. This goes for other fillers such as like, um, you know, etc.
06. How to get out of bed in the morning
I asked this question around my college campus and got a lot of interesting responses. So I will try to sum this tip up with the following responses I got.
- I placed a mini mattress at one side of my bed on the floor. As once my alarm goes off I instantly roll of my bed onto the mattress, it gives me a small adrenaline rush. I call it bedroom skydiving.
- My buddy has a coffee pot that automatically starts making coffee into a cup 10 min before his alarm goes off. Usually he gets woken up by the smell and reaches over the bedside table for the cup then drinks his coffee in bed.
- I brew ice coffee and leave about 12 oz on my night stand before I go to sleep. I set my alarm 30 minutes earlier than normal, and when it goes off I shotgun the coffee, then go back to sleep. 30 minutes later, I wake up wide awake feeling like a million bucks.
- I use an alarm app called Sleep as android on my phone that asks me a simple math question. Works like a charm. Just enough to get my brain going from sleep mode to awake.
- Before you get up, pull one knee to your chest and stretch; then the other; then both together (all while laying down). Swing your legs over the side, point and flex your feet/toes, stretch your arms out. This will get your blood flowing and make you much more willing to get out of bed.
- I program my thermostat to briefly increase the temp around the time to get up. If the room is too cold and the bed is warm you won’t want to leave.
- I manage by putting an alarm across the room so I have to get out of bed to turn it off.
07. If you’re given criticism by an individual or a group.
Bite the bullet, give yourself some time to process the emotions, then proceed to logically consider what was said.
Scientific research suggests that if we as individuals are presented with an idea which we disagree with, the portion of our brain which processes logic and reason turns off. So if you’re given criticism by let’s say your boss, partner, and or someone in general, bite the bullet and give yourself time to process it. Basically respond instead of reacting.
08. Remove Tourists from your Travel Photos
Put your camera on a tripod. Take about 15 pictures about every 10 seconds. Open them all in Photoshop and got to File->Scripts->Statistics. Choose “median.”
09. If you drop and fully submerse/drench your phone in liquid…
DO NOT check your phone to see if it works, unless you want circuits to short immediately and screw yourself with zero recourse available.
DO NOT throw it in a bag of rice. (You may while you are gathering the items listed below).
You will need.
- As much silica as possible (raid your suitcases, wife’s shoe boxes, IKEA flat packs, electronics, etc.) keep this stuff when you find it. It’s handy! You can also buy silica crystals in 2kg bags in the kitty litter aisle of your supermarket.
- 1 Tupperware or Ziploc bag.
- Isopropyl Alcohol (optional, mostly).
- Paper Towels.
- Dish Towels.
- 1 salad spinner.
- 1 bottle of nicely aged scotch to cry yourself to sleep with from the anxiety of possibly just carelessly destroying a beautiful magical $800 extension of your life.
DO remove all accessories, batteries (sorry iPhone users) and sim/memory cards. If your phone was dropped in sugary liquid (and ONLY if dropped in sugary liquid) completely submerge your phone in 100% rubbing alcohol (yes, I’m actually serious). You want to avoid the alcohol part if you just dropped it in water as you run the risk of dissolving adhesives inside the phone. If it was dropped in yesterday’s glass of coke you’ll be just as screwed if you don’t do this step as your phone WILL ultimately stop functioning from the sugar residue, so the iso bath is worth the risk and SHOULD be done.
Lay your phone in a bed of paper towels or dish towels in a salad spinner if possible. If you don’t have a salad spinner available it’s not the end of the world, skip step if needed. Place phone on side against wall of spinner with screen facing the centre of the spinner, we want the liquid pulled away from the screen and towards the battery area. After a good amount of delicious centrifugal force has been applied (couple minutes, tops) in salad spinner, shake that phone like your life depended on it (keep a FIRM grip or it will end up as a decoration lodged in your drywall) until you’re not getting spray out of it with each shake. Place in ziplock bag with screen facing UP with as much silica gel as possible for TWO DAYS without breaking the seal. If you have enough silica gel packets, pack the battery compartment with them and place around all sides of phone. Get as much coverage as possible. DO NOT CHECK ON IT FOR THE ENTIRE TWO DAYS. I’m an*l about this, but silica is wicking moisture and we want this the entire 48 hours without interruption.
While your phone is doing its drying thing, clean contacts of the sim/memory card with alcohol wipe or isopropyl and paper towel/whatever.
This works. I have saved a many family phones using this technique. You want to start this process as quickly as possible, get that thing powered OFF. Circuits start blowing pretty much immediately.
While this process works well, a lot of the time previously wet phones are still ticking time bombs, especially if exposed to moisture while turned on (which is almost always) and left on for too long after exposure. You may notice buttons start to go, camera gets wonky, etc.
And remember make this process AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.
10. Always cut grapes in half for young children and babies
They form a perfect seal in their throat, and this is one of the top causes of choking. For those of you that want to do it quickly fill a flat plate full of grapes, put another flat plate on top of it, then get a long knife and cut between the two plates.
