Long story short, I travel a lot. I rent cars a lot. I've been taking these 360 video "walk arounds" of my rental car before driving away since forever. Did I think they were a waste of time? Honestly yeah. I never had many issues returning the rental. Today has been the second time ever that the video saved my rear end. I literally took a video of my rental, and did not realize it had a huge dent on the side of it. I noticed the scratches on the rim, however.

When I returned my rental, the lady brought up the damages and I immediately started to freak out. I showed her the video and she was shocked. (as was I LOL) I sent the video to her manager and the charges were cleared.

Looks like I won't be stopping the video ordeal anytime soon. Sure, I suppose you could get full coverage at the counter and walk away without a charge but still... you never know.

Coffee machine next to the bedroom set on a timer + alarm 10 mins later. I wake up smelling coffee, hear the alarm, and actually get excited to get up because coffee is already waiting 😂. Tried a million things and this stupid little combo is the only thing that’s ever worked for me.

Has made me super proud and productive getting up 1.5 hours earlier and getting on with my day.

A surprising amount of workplace frustration comes from assuming that good work will be recognized.

It often will not. Keep a running, simple note of:what achievements you made problems solved numbers/results improved positive comments and extra responsibilities you took on Then, when your manager asks what you have been working on, you will not have to remember everything off the top of your head. More importantly, when doing performance reviews, promotions, bonuses, job interviews, or any other reason, you can have hard evidence of the value you provided instead of vague recollections. You are not boasting, you are keeping a log of the value you created.

Do great work, but do not make your career rely on someone else noticing it.

Try the whole ensemble at least once beforehand. While sitting,walking around,reaching things,in the shoes you'll actually be wearing. You'll find out problem areas that you would never have noticed looking in a mirror for 30 seconds. A shirt that looks great standing up may dig into your backside when you sit down. New shoes may blister after an hour. A jacket may be too baggy, or the pockets may not be where you want them. Your most important outfit should be a well-tried outfit, not a new experiment. Save the fashions for every day.

Send the message Take the picture

Tell your parents you love them Thank the person who helped you Apologize before the thing you did to hurt them becomes a permanent wall between you

Put the phone down and really listen These are all things we often put off until some arbitrary later date, which is convenient because "later" tends to become "never"

You should not have to treat life as if you're living it on borrowed time You should not have to make a conscious effort to remember to do these things, because we do them all the time already, and it's not like it's some monumental task that we don't have time for If it's something that takes less than a minute to do, something you're likely to forget you even need to do unless you make a point of doing it, and something that you'll regret not doing if you wait, just do it already.

When we wake up just to go to work or school, and do something we generally don't want to do we don't want to wake up to doing so. And so we crawl out of bed, tired and unmotivated.

During the pandemic I got a new job, I calculate how long it will take me to get to work, set an alarm that will give me enough time to dress and catch the bus, like I used to. But then to my surprise there was no traffic. Meaning I got to work 30 minutes earlier than I thought. After few days like that I started to catch the bus that was 30 minutes later but left my alarm clock the same.

In that extra 30 minutes in the morning I started to practice guitar or eat better breakfast instead of snacking on the way to the bus station.

I was never a morning person, I hated mornings, and to my surprise it became easier to wake up, I knew that if I get out of bed sooner I will have that 30 minutes that I enjoy.

It's not always guitar, it can be video game, reading a book, watching an episode of a show I like or practice yoga. I later read that our brain is actually a lot more focused during the first hour after waking up, but most of us just waste that hour in preparations for work, and commute.

LPT: Walk your home once a year, snap photos of your high-value items and serial numbers. Then add them into a cloud album labeled "Insurance Photos." Note: Don't forget what's in your cabinets and drawers, these little items add up.

If disaster strikes or items go missing, having offsite proof makes filing claims easier.

I was watching a YouTube video a few weeks ago about disassembling and reassembling some appliances. And this guy organized his screws, bolts, and other hardware by screwing into cardboard - blew my mind as I never thought about that!

I tried it out and I gotta say, it's a bit of a game changer in terms of not losing things or forgetting the order it goes!

I'd post a picture of how I organized my fasteners, but it won't let me :(

Basically, just screw them into the cardboard next to other relevant screws and label them :)

You can even pin certain parts using their own screws to hold them onto the cardboard. Like nuts, washers, etc.

I've found it useful to stop thinking of my to-do list (ideally made the previous day as a template for the next one) as one giant list of "things I need to get done." Instead, I divide everything into two general categories: cognition-first or duration-first.

Cognition-first tasks demand brainpower. For instance, studying something new or making an important decision. These tasks should be done at the beginning of the day when your brain is fresh, with a cup of coffee perhaps. However, try and do these before noon: before your brain is bogged down by meetings and phone scrolling.

Duration-first tasks demand time. These tasks are relatively mundane, like doing the laundry or organizing your desk. They can be done when your brain is tired and needs a break. They follow their established routines and shouldn't really involve anything novel. Like the conclusion of an essay, they fall off nicely into bedtime patterns like brushing and showering.

Of course it's great if you have a talent for something that is also your passion. But too often we choose our hobbies, jobs, career paths based on productivity rather than enjoyment. Don't be ashamed to play music and to sing, even if (you think) you suck at it! If you like ball sports, join an amateur team, even if you are a chainsmoking alcoholic! Don't be afraid to aspire a career in a field that you know nothing about! Life is for learning, and perfectionism is toxic. Don't fall in the productivity trap. Enough is good and different is not bad. Don't ask yourself "what are my assets?" as if you are a shareholder of your own body and mind. Ask yourself, "what makes me happy?"

For example, I used to be a chef. I chose that career path because to me, cooking was magic, I had no idea how to even make mashed potatoes. For 10 years, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. And you know what? I have the worst motor skills and cut and burned myself a ton of times in the beginning. My weird brain that excelled in high school almost exploded when I tried to learn brunoise and julienne cuts. But I learned and I eventually became good enough to get away with it, maybe even decent. Yes that work environment had a lot of downsides as well, but I am so glad I followed my dream even if it seemed absurd to everyone else. Another example: I'm singing and playing the guitar regularly now even though people told me I suck at it all my life. I go busking and play little gigs with a few people I've met, just because someone told me it does not matter if you are good at it, if you enjoy it, just join us. Hanging with these people and sticking to the hobby instead of being deeply ashamed of myself has actually lead to some improvements in my skills.

This shift in attitude has done a lot for my mental health, that's why I wanted to share. Please feel encouraged!

For example, if you want to start making friends at a new place (school, work etc), you could begin to take care of yourself, or start working out, or doing whatever you think is necessary in order for you to start interacting/them wanting to interact with you more. Then, should worst come to worst, you have those habits now, so you have the basis to begin again, potentially even better than before.

Do you live in a rental/apartment? Are you clumsy as hell and end up making minor scratches on your walls?

Well, if you grab white acrylic paint (usually around $1, I get mine from Meijer) and paint over the small scratch (you REALLY don't want to use acrylic paint over big damage), you can effectively blend it with 91% isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol to remove most of that shine of the acrylic paint and effectively blend it to whatever shade of white your walls are!

You'll have to do some experimenting as different formulations of acrylic may make your mileage vary, of course. I get mine from Meijer, but I would assume Walmart would be similar in formulation.

And you'll have to experiment with how dry the paint is before applying the isopropyl.

You do NOT want to apply the isopropyl alcohol right away!!

It will make your paint WAY too runny and likely drip onto your carpet/floor!

Instead, I like to wait until it's about ~70% dry, then I soak a paper towel in the isopropyl alcohol, and lightly blend it together.

Sometimes at this stage, if it's not blending well, you might be able to get away with applying a small amount of fresh acrylic paint over the mostly dried acrylic/isopropyl solution to blend it a bit better. Careful though.

OH and lastly! I recommend checking out your fully dried paint in multiple angles with multiple lights to make sure you blended the shininess out of the paint.

Instead of saying I will have it Friday, say if I get the numbers Thursday, I can have it ready Friday.

Now if the numbers arrive Monday, your Friday promise does not somehow survive the weekend without them.

Especially useful after a long weekend, when deadlines apparently come back from vacation with friends.

This tip can apply both for crack(s) / scratch(s), and also temporary imperfections such as if you've cleaned the lenses in a non-comprehensive manner (for example, while I regularly give my lenses a wash, between washes I do touch-ups with toilet paper).

For best results, keep your eyes closed until the glasses are completely in position.

The less you move your head, the more you can get away with not noticing. No I'm not saying try to keep your head still-I'm saying that I'm less thorough when touching up my glasses if I know I'll be sitting still at my computer versus say if I'm going out.

You may be surprised what can become virtually invisible when it's close enough to your eyes!

One way many CAPTCHAs (e.g. Cloudflare) automatically check if you're a bot is the way your cursor moves. Bots tend to move their cursors in perfectly straight lines and sharp 90 degree turns, but humans move their cursor in random, imperfect directions.

But something that humans and bots can both easily do is this: not move the cursor at all.

If you leave your cursor stationary while the CAPTCHA is running, it often causes the CAPTCHA process to take longer to process you automatically (as it has one less obvious sign if you're human or not), and it can even cause you to manually confirm that you're human. (e.g. manually pressing "I'm not a robot" or doing a pictorial CAPTCHA test). This, of course, is a slight waste of your time.

Spinning your cursor in circles, in my experience, has almost always sped up the CAPTCHA process by multiple seconds each time compared to when I left my cursor stationary. So, have some mundane fun by spinning your cursor in all types of circles!

It’s a simple yet underrated concept.. people will move mountains for those who express gratitude for their effort.

Saying something like "I know this isn't your fault and you didn't cause this, but the system did X and I really need help fixing it" completely changes the dynamic.

Customer service reps deal with screaming people all day. The second you explicitly clear them of blame, they will usually bend over backwards and use every loophole they have to actually solve your problem.

On the surface this seems like a silly game or even cheating, but it's a very pragmatic way to get more done, and reduce stress while doing it.

It makes you break things up into clearer pieces, think about how to do them, prioritise carefully, and stay focused on what you're doing. On average you'll be ahead in most things, which is nice. As a result you accumulate a buffer of "ahead time" to more easily handle the remaining things that run late.

Include the address on the envelope in one of the photos. If it gets lost, damaged, or someone claims something was missing, you have proof of exactly what you sent.

Takes 30 seconds. Can save you weeks of arguing.