8 Great Anti-Hacks to Fundamentally Change Your Life

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Clay Collins of Project Liberation and The Growing Life.

Albert Einstein stated that “problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.” Einstein, of course, was right. Sometimes our problems require more than life hacks, tips, tweaks, etc. Sometimes our lives don’t need optimization, they need to be fundamentally reconfigured.

So What are Anti-Hacks?

Now Do This, and The Single- Tasking Philosophy

There’s a new online to-do app that’s come out called Now Do This: — I know, there are already a million of them, but I love this one for its simplicity and philosophy that’s so similar to mine.

It’s an incredibly simple program: The site has a white page with a single task written on it (you can change it to your own tasks). Below the task is a button that says “Done”. Finish the task, click the Done button, and the next task on your list appears. When you’re done with your list, a refreshing “all done!” message appears.

Simple and beautiful. And productive.

Reclaim Your Time: 20 Great Ways to Find More Free Time

“The really efficient laborer will be found not to crowd his day with work, but will saunter to his task surrounded by a wide halo of ease and leisure.” - Henry David Thoreau

Are there a hundred different things you wish you could do with your life someday — anything from exercising to meditation or yoga to writing that novel you always wished you could write to reading more to relaxing and watching the sunrise?

But perhaps you never have the time, like most people.

The truth is, we all have the same amount of time, and it’s finite and in great demand. But some of us have made the time for doing the things we love doing, and others have allowed the constant demands and pressures and responsibilities of life to dictate their days.

13 Ideas to Keep Your Wedding As Simple As Possible

“My fiance and I are having a little disagreement. What I want is a big church wedding with bridesmaids and flowers and a no-expense-spared reception; what he wants is to break off our engagement.” - Sally Poplin

I’m getting married at the end of this week! Actually, I’m getting re-married — my wife and I have been married for awhile now, but the first time was a super small civil wedding with no reception (we just went to a restaurant). This time we’re getting married in our church, with a bigger reception (300 people).

And while it’s a fairly large wedding, my wife and I have tried our best to keep this wedding as simple as possible. I’d like to share some of the things I’ve been learning for those of you who might be getting married in the future, and who don’t want a big complicated affair.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Simplifying Your Life, and Way More

I’m finishing the last chapter of my book today (can’t wait for it to be done!) and so I thought I’d take a break and leave you with some of my favorite old articles, in case you missed them — the articles on simplicity.

As you might already know, living the simple life is one of my passions, and one of my greatest achievements. Sure, my life could probably get even simpler, but I’m happy with where I am. I hope that these articles can help you in your journey to a simpler life, should you choose such a path.

7 Habits Essential for Tackling the Multitasking Virus

Editor’s note: I’m thrilled to have this guest post from Josh Waitzkin, author of The Art of Learning, and the subject of the book and movie, Searching for Bobby Fischer. An eight-time National Chess Champion in his youth, he is now a martial arts champion, holding a combined 21 National titles in addition to several World Championships.

I recently wrote an article about a heartbreaking new trend in our classrooms. In Universities throughout the US, students are surfing the internet, shopping online, Facebooking, and emailing while their professors speak to disengaged minds.

One can argue that kids have always passed notes, but this semester’s explosion of multi-tasking is on a terrifying scale and teachers nationwide are bereft. The Dean of the University of Chicago Law School just banned surfing during class. Harvard Business School was forced to cut off internet access. Columbia, Barnard and countless others are hustling for solutions, but students demand that their rights are not infringed upon.

You can read my account of this crisis and of the dangers of multitasking in this piece on Tim Ferriss’s blog. What I would like to do now is propose some actionable solutions to a cultural problem that extends far beyond our schools.

Simple Manifesto: Break Free from the Tyranny of the Clock

“But what minutes! Count them by sensation, and not by calendars, and each moment is a day.” - Benjamin Disraeli

For tens of thousands of years, human beings didn’t have clocks. They lived, amazingly, by the sun and the moon and seasons and the needs and rhythms of their bodies.

The clock is a very very recent invention, and even more recent is our modern society’s slavish adherence to the dictatorship of the clock.