December Daily: useful advice

[resonant]

runpunkrun -- advice you've found useful

Punk adds:: "I STILL think about the family advice you shared with us that if you're wondering whether you should turn your headlights on, you should. That is a solid rule and I follow it all the time because I drive an old car where those sorts of decisions are still up to the driver."

That was my dad's advice in general, really -- if it occurs to you that you might need to [send a thank-you note] [leave a tip] [wash that before you wear it again] [use a ladder instead of a rolling chair], then you probably should. (He also used to say, "When you can smell yourself, other people have been smelling you for three days.")

Other advice that I've found useful:

- Once I was saying, "I wonder if I should try to write or if I should go to the gym," and the spouse said, "Remember, you write with your cells."

- A project manager I used to work with said, "The object is to leave the meeting without the monkey."

- My first landlord told me (after I bounced a rent check) that it was a good idea, as soon as you wrote down your paycheck deposit in your checkbook, to immediately write out your rent check or other biggest check, even if it wasn't due for a while. I don't use checks any more, but I still set up my rent e-bill as soon as my mid-month paycheck comes in.

- My yoga therapist told me, "There is always exactly the right amount of time." I'm still struggling with that one; I see it like a distant hilltop that I hope to reach one day.

- In a similar vein, my 12th-grade algebra teacher told me, "Life is a matter of priorities."


Comment to leave me a prompt! Steal runpunkrun's prompt if you want to do the meme yourself!

13 -- terminally_underwhelmed -- things that change, things that don't.
14 -- watersword -- Tell me about a memorable meal.
15 -- anitac588 -- Chris Evans.
16 --
17 -- ride_4ever -- birthdays
18 -- muccamukk -- Dwarvish things in your everyday life. (Moved from the 17th so ride_4ever could get the birthday date.)
19 -- jesse_the_k -- advice you regret following
20 -- copracat -- memory.
21 -- rhi -- cats.
22 --
23 -- laurenthemself -- Something spooky that's happened to you
24 --
25 --
26 --
27 --
28 --
29 --
30 --
31 --

Comments

[adafrog]

Good advice.

[wrabbit]

Years ago, I think it was you who wrote something about getting in the habit of washing your hands first thing when you came home. I don't know why, but that stuck with me and now I don't touch anything at home before I wash my hands. I like the psychological cleansing part of it. It's a moment to reset.

[goss]

Thanks for sharing these. Those last two are especially things I need to keep in mind lately.

[james]

My MIL once said, about whether or not one should go to the bathroom before we leave, "If you're asking the question, the answer is yes."

And turns out it is VERY true.

Also applies if you are asking "Should I have another cookie/piece of chocolate?"

[lunabee34]

All good advice!

I am also a huge fan of "run water on the dirty dishes if you're not going to wash them now so you don't have to scrub them later."

[resonant]

Yes! That was a New Year's resolution one year. I still try to do it, though it's not habitual enough that it doesn't require trying even after all this time. I also try to have a drink of water at the same time, hooking two good practices together.

For some time now I've wanted some ritual that I can do upon coming home, but I never really thought of the handwashing as the root of it. I'll have to keep that in mind.

[resonant]

Yeah, I wouldn't be processing it as advice if I didn't still need to be reminded of it.

Today I went back to yoga therapy and I told the therapist about a quirk I think I've mentioned here before: that although I know that when you practice something, you gradually get better at it, on a really primal level I don't believe it. (What my monkey brain believes is more like "If you don't get it right the first time, soemtimes you can mess around a little bit and then you figure out how to do it.")

She said, "That invalidates any work you do that doesn't immediately produce perfection."

[resonant]

Of course! And those moments when you think, "Hey, I'm around for a couple of hours. I could make bread ..."

[resonant]

Yes. That's one of those things that terminally_underwhelmed describes as "present me doing a nice favor for future me."

[lunabee34]

Oooh, I like that.

[jesse_the_k]

"The object is to leave the meeting without the monkey."

That is profound wisdom!

[resonant]

I shared this with the spouse, and now when he meets with the church's governing board, he says, "I spent the whole time trying to stop each and every one of them from handing me a monkey."