What are some life hacks that you practice?
I think the essay is less about hacks and more about permission.
It is a beautiful fall morning. The coffee is warm, the air has finally stopped trying to smother us, and I have already been out yard-sale surfing.
That probably sounds like a life hack to somebody. Get there early. Carry cash. Know what you are looking for. Know what you are not. Do not bring home twelve mystery objects because they were cheap and might possibly be something.
Honestly, that last one is still a work in progress.
The morning prompt asked what life hacks I practice. There are the usual answers, of course. Lists. Timers. Putting things where I can see them. Buying three pairs of the inexpensive shoes that do not hurt my feet because when I find a thing that works, I do not need to keep shopping for a better answer.
But I think most life hacks are personal cheat sheets.
There are absolute shortcuts in the world. I am not disputing that. But a lot of what gets called a hack is simply someone figuring out how their particular brain works, then having the nerve to keep doing it even when it does not look like the way everybody else does it.
I spent most of my life trying to do things the way they seemed to work for other people. Follow the steps. Make the system. Be consistent. Do not need three reminders, a visible cue, and a deadline that has gotten just close enough to bite.
Then I was diagnosed with ADHD, and I could finally see how much I had already hacked my own life just to keep it moving.
I had built workarounds. I had made lists. I had learned that if something mattered, it needed to live where I could see it. I had learned that a planner only works if I will actually open it. I had learned that sometimes the shortest path between “I need to do this” and actually doing it is making it a little prettier, a little more interesting, or a little more urgent.
That is not cheating. That is learning your own operating system.
Maybe your hack is doing dishes while the coffee brews. Maybe it is setting out tomorrow’s clothes before your brain has time to argue with you. Maybe it is refusing to buy the fancy organizational thing because a dollar-store basket by the front door works better.
Maybe it is buying the good socks in bulk.
The point is not whether it would work for everyone else. The point is whether it works for you.
And if it does, write it down. Keep it. Use it without apology.
That is a life hack worth having.
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