Lived in Jersey and a friend invited me to a commercial audition at an NYC bar. Went because of bar. Auditioned after 2 beers. Left thinking it was a waste of time. A month later, I get a call that they want to use me for the commercial. Director was the guy who directed the original Space Jam. I got lines and ended up in two of their commercials and got a 40k payday where I thought someone made a clerical error. Started my acting career and now a writer/director/flight attendant.
Hyundai? When I was younger and super cautious I went to the shop for it like three times, and the third time they were like, okay, listen here, you don't need to keep coming in for this one
First time I went over to my now-wife's house, she mentioned that she accidentally clogged the bathroom sink with a bottle cap. Challenge fucking accepted. Disassembled the drain, got the cap, and had it back together in 10 minutes. Pretty sure that sealed the deal right there.
Suing someone in Small Claims. It was surprisingly easy because my case was rock solid and I had a professionally printed document of evidence, witness statements, and precise records sent over to the court while the Defendant did literally nothing but send unlabeled loose printouts of my Facebook page as her so-called evidence.
Get the judgement is easy. Turns out actually getting the money is hard, depending on local laws. A piece of paper saying that a person Officially Owes You Something is not always worth as much as you think.
Got a salary request when applying for a job, accidentally wrote double what I meant to write since the number keys were right next to each other. They accepted anyway.
Not me, but someone I know, got a new job, asked for 60, thinking $60k per year, employer agreed thinking $60/hour. This is how they found out they were severely underpaid at previous job
I got something similar, but instead of slipping up, I asked for 6 over my target to negotiate it and before I could argue my case they said the budget allowed for a bit more than I bargained, and they bumped up by 10K over my initial hopes
Worked on an almost 5 million dollar lighting rig for a concert as a junior guy on the job. We get it all plugged in and patched but none of it would turn on. All the guys were freaking out trying to figure out why. The team collectively had about 150 years of experience.
All I can think of is, "did you try turning it off and on again?" which is sometimes simplified further to "did you make sure it was plugged in?" as a go-to line for a good chunk of tech issues.
I've hated every job I've ever had, at 18 I joined the military for 6 years....that sucked the whole time, then went into customer service at Walmart, and they were a bunch of assholes to everyone. Tried security and they were just degrading. Job after job doing what I thought was the right thing. I decided to apply for a local HVAC company just working call center, nothing big, I think there a total of 9 of us on phones. Honestly it's the best job I've ever had, we all get along, spend hours a day on our group chat sharing memes, our management has one on one meetings every two weeks with the goal of "this meeting is not work related but we want to know just how your doing, how's life treating you, what do you need?"
Found a 60” tv by the dumpster. Plugged it in, didn’t turn on. Looked up common problems with the model number, bought a part on eBay for $20, replaced part, had a huge TV.
When I was a kid we used to regularly dumpster dive for electronics. The vast majority of electronics are thrown away because some minor part has broken, often times it's a simple as a fuse. Learn how to use a multi meter and do basic soldering and you'll be able to do a ton of home repairs.
In college the professor advertised an internship and wrote the info on the board. Out of a class of 150 students, I was the only one to apply and I fulfilled my internship requirement for graduation.
All the students pretty much bombed a networking final. Teacher said we could retake it but we would be alone (no group). Which worked out perfectly for me; they wouldnt get in my way and i wouldnt have to coordinate them
I did this for my girlfriend at the time but for scholarships. She didnt realize most scholarships arent even applied for so they give it to whoever applies to it by default. With her help, I wrote four essays that were tweaked for each scholarship application. I did the writing because I'm a writer by trade. By the time she transferred to her new college, she had an excess of 1500 to spend every month. Because of that, she could focus on her studies fill time instead of trying to balance a job as well.
This is fascinating. My kid is currently finding this hard. Do you think it was because your brain changed as you grew? Did you have problems with dexterity as a kid? Did they ease as well?
I married into a pretty big family who are all starting to have kids. Every now and then, a lefty turns up, and as the family's designated left-hander, I get called upon to teach them to tie their shoes. Its apparently totally different if your left or right handed
I started looking for a job last year and got three offers within two months, two of which were significantly higher pay. Made me realize I’ve been sitting around way too long.
Calm is powdered magnesium citrate for anyone who is wondering. Magnesium does so many amazing things for your body and a surprising amount of people are deficient
Struggled with insomnia through adulthood. I've researched all kinds of things but never came across this tip. Fingers crossed it changes things for me!
I got my place because it was sitting on the market for months. Slightly more than I wanted to pay and it wasn't exactly my style, but it had "potential". It was obky 4 years old and 15 min walk to beach and on one of the largers blocks in the street. Anyway, I decided to buy it. Pest and building report came back confirming the house was pretty much immaculate. Two months later value has gone up $50k. Two years later its worth $200k more than I paid. I think everyone overlooked it initially as it's only a 1 bathroom and 1 small garage, but it does what I need.
I had a loose hinge on my door. It kind of drove me crazy for three years, but I had no idea how to fix the wood that had been stripped. Then I found a product on Amazon for $10 where you shove on a sleeve, break it off and then screw in the new screws. Bought two new hinges that don’t squeak. Took about 10 minutes and cost $20 and it’s no longer a problem!
My front door has squeaked ever since I bought my house 25 years ago. It’s just background noise now. Got my bathroom remodeled and the contractor took it upon himself to oil my front door hinges. My kids and my pets were completely freaked out by people “sneaking up on them.” They hated it, lol! Luckily the hinges started squeaking again after about a month. Phew!
Self improvement and reflection. Stopped looking at outside factors in my life and started looking at what I could control. Weight, time, who I spent time with, etc. I didnt need to change my whole life in one day. I needed to make small progress. Spending one day less a week on gaming and one day a week on improving myself is better then not improving at all. Allowing myself to fail *with intent* to improve is so much easier now that I dont spend time with negative people that demand perfection.
My cousin seems permanently stoned when she’s not medicated for her ADD. When she first started taking Ritalin everyone congratulated her for finally getting off drugs. She was like “What are you talking about? I just got on drugs.”
Deciding to stop dealing with my life going in no direction after leaving a career that I went to college for a decade prior. I had something in the back of my mind for a long time that I wanted to do. I finally couldn’t take the feeling of being stuck so I applied to a local community college to take some prerequisites and started class less than 2 weeks later. I am pretty sure I cried once I did it because the relief of finally having some direction again and felt like a weight lifted off of me. I could literally feel the change in my body once I registered.
Changing my bathroom faucet. I'm a 56 year old woman that's never done any plumbing before. Turns out YouTube is a wealth of knowledge. It really wasn't that hard! I get joy every time I wash my hands knowing I did that.
I was thinking about getting into CAD or something similar. Want to move up a pay grade I was already an apprentice for something else. What are the best fields right now besides CAD?
The power steering failed on my Acura. My local Acura dealership wanted to charge me well over $1000 to fix it. I bought a power steering pump off Amazon for $70 and found a You Tube video that explained how to fit it. I don't have any car maintenance experience bit it only took a couple of hours to do the job myself and it worked like a charm.
No longer caring about what other people thought about me. One day I cared, then the next day, I was just so emotionally exhausted that I just said fuck it. Never really cared since.
Applying for my Irish passport. My dad was born there, so I’m a naturalized citizen. I hate paperwork, so avoided ever filling out my application. Turns out it takes 10 minutes online.
My understanding is that grandkids can do the same. My dad's mom was born there but refuses to share the birth certificate and I stopped looking into it after that.
Get into a bar fight. Some guy didn’t like the way I looked. Never had said a word to the guy all night, he was about 15 feet away from me most of the night.
I was wearing my glasses to a local show where the clientele was maybe a little rough but really not bad at all. My glasses make me look a bit pretentious and I'm fully aware of this. Three separate guys throughout the night gave me a look that said "I want to punch you in the fucking teeth" and after the 3rd look I took them right off, problem solved. Sometimes you just look like a guy people want to punch
I was at my regular neighborhood bar one time and some dude got jealous of me because I was standing next to the girl he was interested in while I was trying to pay for my drinks. He came over and tried to start shit with me. I was flabbergasted and just started to laugh. My guy did not like that reaction lol I just walked away and went on with my evening. 15 minutes later I witnessed the bartender pick him up off his two feet and throw him out of the bar. Few minutes after that, I was leaving and saw him being handcuffed by a cop. I guess he was bothering people all night.
For months, I had been applying for tons of jobs on every platform I could find. Talking to friends to get critiques on my resume/cover letter. Updating my online portfolio. Etc. Then one day a recruiter messaged me out of the blue on LinkedIn and basically handed me a dream job. It was one interview and then a call to say hey you're hired. I legitimately thought it was a scam right up until my first day of work.
I was trying to activate windows XP and 7 on an old computer a few years ago for giggles and software compatibility. I couldn't get them to accept my key because the servers were shut down. I tried calling the phone number they had listed and it gave me a code for my windows one I entered my key. It was super easy. Best of all, I didn't have to talk to a person, a robot took care of it all.
Still works to this day, so long as it's a valid key that hasn't been pirated Microsoft will give you an activation code that works. These days it's an automated system unless something goes wrong then they connect you to a representative.
Money doesn’t buy happiness but it buys stability, and stability leads to happiness. Life is so much more enjoyable when your number one focus isn’t survival
yup. i finally got a job that pays well, at age 32. and after a year of saving i was able to take a vacation. it was amazing. the vacation honestly wasnt that great, the amazing thing is just how easy everything is. i want a gaming laptop, so i shop around and buy one. i want a hat, so i just go get one.
I made a 13th century "pirate" style shirt by hand no machine with a YouTube video I like sewing but I'm not the best at it so it made me feel good about doing things that seem hard
I'll be 36 in about two weeks. My birthday is the last day at my current job, making a career change from accounting to a scrum master. I'm excited af.
CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH - be incredibly careful with iron supplements. I was given them and never told to stop. So I didn't. So I ended up in the hospital with my entire intestinal flora stripped out and it has taken me, NO LIE, 25 years to rebuild. I still have issues. I still cannot take iron supplements and must get what my body can from food. It's a freaking pain and yea, I had a great two years of not feeling tired and only the occasional 'minor' intestinal bleed but then this. Be careful with iron!
Huh, this makes me think. How many people can't just genuinely like their kid because they don't like themselves? My parents took issue with the parts of me that they disliked about themselves frequently but I never recognized it as projection until now I just thought they lacked all forms of self awareness.
They're just an inexperienced adult, mostly. It's not complicated to treat children with respect, but a lot of parents can't manage it. Good on you for doing a good job of it!
I brought my now SO a cupcake as a friendly gesture. He said how am I supposed to tell you if I like it or not? Gave him my number, and he messaged me for more cupcakes later.
Learning to cook with raw ingredients. Turns out throwing random bullshit that tastes good together usually works as long as you understand what you like.
I had accepted a new job but was anxious about giving my notice at my old job (I had been there for 8 years and really loved my team). I had also been stressed out that I was taking a week off between jobs because it was a stretch financially. I finally set up a meeting with my boss. I couldn't even sleep the night before.
Reigniting a friendship. My current best friend lived abroad for a year and we hadn't really met in person much if at all for a while before then either, only texting every now and then. When she moved back I asked if she wanted to meet up, and now we're really close.
My life improved considerably when I learned the magic of saying no to things I didn’t have to do or want to do. Most of the time, people just said ok and life went on.
Designing and building two beautiful leaded glass window panes for our bathroom window. It’s pretty much like putting together a puzzle but you get to decide what shape the pieces are.
I wanted to meet my favorite band, so I just… quietly didn’t leave the venue once security started showing people out. I guess they thought I must’ve been a roadie, because they never got on my case. Anyway, I met them, yadda yadda, now I’m a professional concert lighting designer
Was at Carolina Beach last summer around Memorial Day. We get to the boardwalk one afternoon and there's an arcade there. There's a skill game where you have to press a button that moves a fixture with a razor on it. When you let the button go, the device stops and the razor snaps through the middle. There's a small string close to the glass. If you time it right, the razor cuts the string, and this huge door opens and you get all the prizes in the machine.
As someone who worked in the arcade and prize game space recently - you got lucky. Those games seem super easy, but the window of success is crazy narrow.
The bar exam. I thought I must have missed something or fallen into a bunch of traps because I finished early and everyone talked about how hard it was after. Turns out I just prepared well. I got a score way above passing and only 50 percent of takers passed that session overall.
What was weird for me, is that I did extremely high on GMAT and GRE so thought I was brilliant but barely got in 60th percentile on the LSAT. I remember multiple practice tests, and getting answers "wrong" and still not getting why the answer was wrong, even after reading the description in the back of the book. Like, if it was a murder mystery weekend and you were just supposed to know the butler did it even though there was only one clue they did it. But you could easily come up with two reasons why the cleaning lady did it....and then everyone arbitrarily decided you are just very wrong. That's how I felt about many of the LSAT questions
Operating an electric pallet jack. (One of my coworkers literally just showed me one day how to work it. No training required, just learn how it works.)
Disputing every negative item on your credit every December 12th. They take too long to review it due to the holiday and it falls off due to a 30 day deadline.
Learning to drive. First time around failed the written test by one question and it made me really anxious about the whole thing. Tried again a little while later and it was surprisingly easy, and the behind the wheel test was even easier.
I really needed to read this, thank you! I'm 25yo born and raised in NYC, you don't have a driver's license and no one questions it because of the public transportation here.
Getting physically fit. Just 20 minutes of strength exercises maybe 4-6 days a week. It just shocked me how little effort it really took, and how much of a positive effect it had on me in basically every single way.
When I applied to college I applied for an Irish American scholarship. Turns out they had so few applicants they just gave me $40k towards my tuition. I am not even remotely Irish.
I got a small ($1,000) scholarship this exact same way. I was working two jobs and donating plasma 2X a week for meal money at the time, so every little bit helped.
I remember reading a thread a while ago where the OP ran a business getting students scholarships; they said that many scholarships went unfilled because no one knew they existed or applications were so few so they filled the gap.
Previous owners left a "broken" fridge in the kitchen when we moved in. Like literally put it in the paperwork that the fridge was broken and that they weren't going to dispose of it.
Went to the bar one night with some friends, ran into a girl that had worked for me a few years earlier. Said hi, chatted for a minute, she asks me where my girlfriend is. I let her know we broke up a couple months earlier. She is like "oh cool, well I'm here with my friends and I'm going to go hang out with them but if you want to hook up after the bar closes, I've always wanted you." I blink about 10 times in a row, "uh, that sounds awesome". And we did.
I'm a 24f who knows absolutely nothing about cars. Well I bought myself a nice front/rear dash cam without considering how to safely wire it, and found out I would have to remove parts of my car to wire it behind airbags and stuff (so it wouldn't prevent an airbag from deploying properly). I thought I was gonna have to pay someone to install for me, but turns out a simple YouTube video walked me through the whole thing! Now my dashcams look professionally installed. I also learned how to change a blown fuse on the same day because my USB adapter wasn't working. I was high on the achievement of something new and had a brief hyper-fixation on learning to mod my car but thankfully got over it lol.
Went to a small school, thought college would be very difficult. I was one of the smart kids, but thought I was a big fish in a small pond and went to a state school. I'm not saying I would do as good at Harvard, but I was stressing my first year when I could have done more extra curriculars.
I burped my radiator and did a ghetto coolant flush using nothing but Youtube clips. I can't even change my own oil. Once the heat was working again I felt like I had caught a fish with my bare hands.
My entire life is this moment. My parents and grandparents all had this really annoying habit of making anything and everything sound way harder or more requiring of great discipline than it actually is. And whenever I'd perform the feat, and realize how insultingly easy it was, I'd be left a little offended while my family would cheer me on. I never could tell if I was offended because I expected a harder challenge or offended because my own family thought I couldn't handle something so simple. Maybe it's an ego thing, maybe it's maybelline. I don't fuggin' know.
Low key this is a life hack. Making or thinking life is this super difficult thing and anyone doing anything impressive has some massive amount of work or discipline under their belt is simply making it harder for you to just start and try things. Without this mentality (the "that thing is so hard!") mentality, you're more open to working on something new. Starting is the hardest part, don't make it any harder by believing that it's going to be even more difficult.
yeah i never considered myself alcoholic but i realized that i just wasnt getting any enjoyment from it. like, just literally, nothing fun occurred because of the alcohol. so i just... dont drink it anymore. lol.
Every couple of months, after staring at a pile of important-looking mail with dread, I grit my teeth, suppress further procrastination, and start working through the pile.
Stopped eating out and started making meals (real food) at home, then started doing the dishes before bed every night so the kitchen isn't messy. Life is a million percent better and I have way more money.
Currently have an outrageously well paying job of over €200k+ as a software developer. I am not particularly intelligent nor enthusiastic about programming in any way.
When I was working overseas for a US company I and many of my coworkers all developed a similar chronic health problem due to our employer's ongoing violation of several workplace health and safety laws. I repeatedly urged my coworkers to file SPOT reports, because it was not the kind of health issue that goes away on its own. Not one of my coworkers could be arsed to file a report, even though everyone bitched constantly about their resulting health issues. I filed a SPOT report. I ended up in two years of physical rehab back home, hauling in overseas money tax free, while not having to work, and ended with a generous five figure cash settlement. My health issues, thanks to the medical attention I was able to get by holding my employer accountable, have been resolved. My former coworkers, I imagine, are still just bitching about theirs.
Lived in Jersey and a friend invited me to a commercial audition at an NYC bar. Went because of bar. Auditioned after 2 beers. Left thinking it was a waste of time. A month later, I get a call that they want to use me for the commercial. Director was the guy who directed the original Space Jam. I got lines and ended up in two of their commercials and got a 40k payday where I thought someone made a clerical error. Started my acting career and now a writer/director/flight attendant.
One time I tightened my gas cap and the check engine light went off.
Those pesky small evap leaks...
I have a Toyota and that's happened to me a few times. The first time, I was afraid I'd have an expensive repair bill.
Hyundai? When I was younger and super cautious I went to the shop for it like three times, and the third time they were like, okay, listen here, you don't need to keep coming in for this one
Fixing clogged drains.
First time I went over to my now-wife's house, she mentioned that she accidentally clogged the bathroom sink with a bottle cap. Challenge fucking accepted. Disassembled the drain, got the cap, and had it back together in 10 minutes. Pretty sure that sealed the deal right there.
Suing someone in Small Claims. It was surprisingly easy because my case was rock solid and I had a professionally printed document of evidence, witness statements, and precise records sent over to the court while the Defendant did literally nothing but send unlabeled loose printouts of my Facebook page as her so-called evidence.
I’m quite intrested in small claims. Do you want to share any other details, no worries If not
Get the judgement is easy. Turns out actually getting the money is hard, depending on local laws. A piece of paper saying that a person Officially Owes You Something is not always worth as much as you think.
One of the kids I babysit was going through a phase of “I want to be a baby again”. Jealous of her sister. Weeks of gentle parenting and such.
All mighty ice cream!
I potty trained my son bribing him with ice cream. Worked well lol.
Got a salary request when applying for a job, accidentally wrote double what I meant to write since the number keys were right next to each other. They accepted anyway.
Not me, but someone I know, got a new job, asked for 60, thinking $60k per year, employer agreed thinking $60/hour. This is how they found out they were severely underpaid at previous job
so 60 instead of 30? or is it 20 instead of 10?
A really good friend of mine moved down to Arizona for a few years to make a bunch of money and then come back up to Canada.
I got something similar, but instead of slipping up, I asked for 6 over my target to negotiate it and before I could argue my case they said the budget allowed for a bit more than I bargained, and they bumped up by 10K over my initial hopes
Worked on an almost 5 million dollar lighting rig for a concert as a junior guy on the job. We get it all plugged in and patched but none of it would turn on. All the guys were freaking out trying to figure out why. The team collectively had about 150 years of experience.
Ellen Griswold for the win!
All I can think of is, "did you try turning it off and on again?" which is sometimes simplified further to "did you make sure it was plugged in?" as a go-to line for a good chunk of tech issues.
I've hated every job I've ever had, at 18 I joined the military for 6 years....that sucked the whole time, then went into customer service at Walmart, and they were a bunch of assholes to everyone. Tried security and they were just degrading. Job after job doing what I thought was the right thing. I decided to apply for a local HVAC company just working call center, nothing big, I think there a total of 9 of us on phones. Honestly it's the best job I've ever had, we all get along, spend hours a day on our group chat sharing memes, our management has one on one meetings every two weeks with the goal of "this meeting is not work related but we want to know just how your doing, how's life treating you, what do you need?"
Lucky...
Found a 60” tv by the dumpster. Plugged it in, didn’t turn on. Looked up common problems with the model number, bought a part on eBay for $20, replaced part, had a huge TV.
I was given a tv because the audio didn't work on it. On the back was a "sound on/off" button.
When I was a kid we used to regularly dumpster dive for electronics. The vast majority of electronics are thrown away because some minor part has broken, often times it's a simple as a fuse. Learn how to use a multi meter and do basic soldering and you'll be able to do a ton of home repairs.
I’m an engineer. I do this regularly and just give the TVs away. Saves them from the plastic island for a few more years
Had a similar deal.
That applies to most modern TV's They're actually very simple designs and modular for ease of assembly.
In college the professor advertised an internship and wrote the info on the board. Out of a class of 150 students, I was the only one to apply and I fulfilled my internship requirement for graduation.
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I did something similar as an extern - they did a survey asking for placement and I was the only one who selected "advertisement." Nice gig
The first Thor movie:
All the students pretty much bombed a networking final. Teacher said we could retake it but we would be alone (no group). Which worked out perfectly for me; they wouldnt get in my way and i wouldnt have to coordinate them
Microsoft came for our college to seek interns (CS). Only 2 applied. Both got the job. Believing in yourself is important.
I did this for my girlfriend at the time but for scholarships. She didnt realize most scholarships arent even applied for so they give it to whoever applies to it by default. With her help, I wrote four essays that were tweaked for each scholarship application. I did the writing because I'm a writer by trade. By the time she transferred to her new college, she had an excess of 1500 to spend every month. Because of that, she could focus on her studies fill time instead of trying to balance a job as well.
Tying shoe laces.
This is fascinating. My kid is currently finding this hard. Do you think it was because your brain changed as you grew? Did you have problems with dexterity as a kid? Did they ease as well?
I married into a pretty big family who are all starting to have kids. Every now and then, a lefty turns up, and as the family's designated left-hander, I get called upon to teach them to tie their shoes. Its apparently totally different if your left or right handed
I started looking for a job last year and got three offers within two months, two of which were significantly higher pay. Made me realize I’ve been sitting around way too long.
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Maybe you sat around exactly as long as was needed
Meanwhile I’ve been applying for jobs for nearly 2 years and have had maybe 10 interviews and no hires. Starting to feel like I’m missing something.
The complete opposite for me. I’ve been looking for almost a year and no luck
I never slept well, ever.
Calm is powdered magnesium citrate for anyone who is wondering. Magnesium does so many amazing things for your body and a surprising amount of people are deficient
Struggled with insomnia through adulthood. I've researched all kinds of things but never came across this tip. Fingers crossed it changes things for me!
I was recently looking for an apartment and rent in my city, like most cities currently, is outrageous
I had a similar experience.
I got my place because it was sitting on the market for months. Slightly more than I wanted to pay and it wasn't exactly my style, but it had "potential". It was obky 4 years old and 15 min walk to beach and on one of the largers blocks in the street. Anyway, I decided to buy it. Pest and building report came back confirming the house was pretty much immaculate. Two months later value has gone up $50k. Two years later its worth $200k more than I paid. I think everyone overlooked it initially as it's only a 1 bathroom and 1 small garage, but it does what I need.
Actually doing the chore you put off for a few days
But I don't WANT to do my laundry
Making my username
Complete opposite experience for me.
This account is few years old. What are the odds that you actually stumbled across this exact post and wrote this comment. Lol.
I had a loose hinge on my door. It kind of drove me crazy for three years, but I had no idea how to fix the wood that had been stripped. Then I found a product on Amazon for $10 where you shove on a sleeve, break it off and then screw in the new screws. Bought two new hinges that don’t squeak. Took about 10 minutes and cost $20 and it’s no longer a problem!
toothpicks and wood glue can work really well for filling a stripped screw hole
My front door has squeaked ever since I bought my house 25 years ago. It’s just background noise now. Got my bathroom remodeled and the contractor took it upon himself to oil my front door hinges. My kids and my pets were completely freaked out by people “sneaking up on them.” They hated it, lol! Luckily the hinges started squeaking again after about a month. Phew!
Self improvement and reflection. Stopped looking at outside factors in my life and started looking at what I could control. Weight, time, who I spent time with, etc. I didnt need to change my whole life in one day. I needed to make small progress. Spending one day less a week on gaming and one day a week on improving myself is better then not improving at all. Allowing myself to fail *with intent* to improve is so much easier now that I dont spend time with negative people that demand perfection.
when i started my add medication - i never knew how life could be and how easy it was to just get up and do stuff
Started 4 days ago as a middle aged dude (with a house and kids and all that fun stuff).
My cousin seems permanently stoned when she’s not medicated for her ADD. When she first started taking Ritalin everyone congratulated her for finally getting off drugs. She was like “What are you talking about? I just got on drugs.”
I'm really happy for you, bro! Life's a garden, dig it!!
Deciding to stop dealing with my life going in no direction after leaving a career that I went to college for a decade prior. I had something in the back of my mind for a long time that I wanted to do. I finally couldn’t take the feeling of being stuck so I applied to a local community college to take some prerequisites and started class less than 2 weeks later. I am pretty sure I cried once I did it because the relief of finally having some direction again and felt like a weight lifted off of me. I could literally feel the change in my body once I registered.
That's a good one my friend
Changing my bathroom faucet. I'm a 56 year old woman that's never done any plumbing before. Turns out YouTube is a wealth of knowledge. It really wasn't that hard! I get joy every time I wash my hands knowing I did that.
My nearly complete luddite friend often says that the how to videos on YouTube ALMOST makes up for the rest of the internet lol
I'm an HVACR tech. Wanna know how much I Google and YouTube shit?
Pretty much 90% of houshold tasks are like that. Yet I still put them off.
Drinking water.
How much water dp ypu drink per day? I have trouble sleeping and I wonder if drinking more is a way to help that
Got a job that required full time field work for minimal pay...in AZ.
Learn how to use google. Everyone will think you’re a god.
I was thinking about getting into CAD or something similar. Want to move up a pay grade I was already an apprentice for something else. What are the best fields right now besides CAD?
The power steering failed on my Acura. My local Acura dealership wanted to charge me well over $1000 to fix it. I bought a power steering pump off Amazon for $70 and found a You Tube video that explained how to fit it. I don't have any car maintenance experience bit it only took a couple of hours to do the job myself and it worked like a charm.
I can't tell you how many $500+ repairs I've done on my cars that were a few bucks in parts and watching a few youtube videos and not "that" hard.
No longer caring about what other people thought about me. One day I cared, then the next day, I was just so emotionally exhausted that I just said fuck it. Never really cared since.
Applying for my Irish passport. My dad was born there, so I’m a naturalized citizen. I hate paperwork, so avoided ever filling out my application. Turns out it takes 10 minutes online.
My understanding is that grandkids can do the same. My dad's mom was born there but refuses to share the birth certificate and I stopped looking into it after that.
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I have had a dozen software engineering jobs that required a degree.
As a working class man strongly accented man with a degree, this checks out.
Get into a bar fight. Some guy didn’t like the way I looked. Never had said a word to the guy all night, he was about 15 feet away from me most of the night.
I've simply had to stop going to bars. There's always that guy, and for whatever reason, I'm usually their target.
I was wearing my glasses to a local show where the clientele was maybe a little rough but really not bad at all. My glasses make me look a bit pretentious and I'm fully aware of this. Three separate guys throughout the night gave me a look that said "I want to punch you in the fucking teeth" and after the 3rd look I took them right off, problem solved. Sometimes you just look like a guy people want to punch
I was at my regular neighborhood bar one time and some dude got jealous of me because I was standing next to the girl he was interested in while I was trying to pay for my drinks. He came over and tried to start shit with me. I was flabbergasted and just started to laugh. My guy did not like that reaction lol I just walked away and went on with my evening. 15 minutes later I witnessed the bartender pick him up off his two feet and throw him out of the bar. Few minutes after that, I was leaving and saw him being handcuffed by a cop. I guess he was bothering people all night.
For months, I had been applying for tons of jobs on every platform I could find. Talking to friends to get critiques on my resume/cover letter. Updating my online portfolio. Etc. Then one day a recruiter messaged me out of the blue on LinkedIn and basically handed me a dream job. It was one interview and then a call to say hey you're hired. I legitimately thought it was a scam right up until my first day of work.
I was trying to activate windows XP and 7 on an old computer a few years ago for giggles and software compatibility. I couldn't get them to accept my key because the servers were shut down. I tried calling the phone number they had listed and it gave me a code for my windows one I entered my key. It was super easy. Best of all, I didn't have to talk to a person, a robot took care of it all.
Still works to this day, so long as it's a valid key that hasn't been pirated Microsoft will give you an activation code that works. These days it's an automated system unless something goes wrong then they connect you to a representative.
Honestly, after being incredibly broke, I remember how easy everything suddenly seemed when I had money.
Money doesn’t buy happiness but it buys stability, and stability leads to happiness. Life is so much more enjoyable when your number one focus isn’t survival
yup. i finally got a job that pays well, at age 32. and after a year of saving i was able to take a vacation. it was amazing. the vacation honestly wasnt that great, the amazing thing is just how easy everything is. i want a gaming laptop, so i shop around and buy one. i want a hat, so i just go get one.
Wise man once said: “I’ve got 99 problems, and money can solve 76 of them.”
Lost 25 pounds and all I had to do was stop eating before bed.
Sophomore year of college my buddies were throwing a party at their house. One of them was a moderately successful DJ in the local college scene.
Getting a job working for the US Department of Defense.
So, what do you do for the DoD?
In a bar on a work night just for a couple of drinks with a mate.
She spent 60 bucks on a wax and wasn't going to waste it.
During all of my years on the roller coaster of being single and dating, I had ONE too-easy experience like this.
usernamechecksout
I made a 13th century "pirate" style shirt by hand no machine with a YouTube video I like sewing but I'm not the best at it so it made me feel good about doing things that seem hard
The puffy shirt?
Going back to school.
So happy for you :) Good luck! That was a great decision! What are you studying?
Made a career transition at 34 to what I've always wanted to do
I'll be 36 in about two weeks. My birthday is the last day at my current job, making a career change from accounting to a scrum master. I'm excited af.
Solving a decade of disability with an over-the-counter iron supplement.
When I was pregnant I couldn't take the vitamins because they had too much iron in them.
What?! Uh details please?
CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH - be incredibly careful with iron supplements. I was given them and never told to stop. So I didn't. So I ended up in the hospital with my entire intestinal flora stripped out and it has taken me, NO LIE, 25 years to rebuild. I still have issues. I still cannot take iron supplements and must get what my body can from food. It's a freaking pain and yea, I had a great two years of not feeling tired and only the occasional 'minor' intestinal bleed but then this. Be careful with iron!
Was it chronic fatigue caused by RLS?
Raising my teenager.
Huh, this makes me think. How many people can't just genuinely like their kid because they don't like themselves? My parents took issue with the parts of me that they disliked about themselves frequently but I never recognized it as projection until now I just thought they lacked all forms of self awareness.
They're just an inexperienced adult, mostly. It's not complicated to treat children with respect, but a lot of parents can't manage it. Good on you for doing a good job of it!
Making bread, and moving across teh country, was much easier than expected
Are those two related? Did you bring the bread with you?
I was drunk at a party and saw a cute girl. Stumbled over to her and literally said, "You're cute, can I have your number?"
That was so cute!
I brought my now SO a cupcake as a friendly gesture. He said how am I supposed to tell you if I like it or not? Gave him my number, and he messaged me for more cupcakes later.
Virtually everything my anxiety has prevented me from doing until I do it.
Learning to cook with raw ingredients. Turns out throwing random bullshit that tastes good together usually works as long as you understand what you like.
I had accepted a new job but was anxious about giving my notice at my old job (I had been there for 8 years and really loved my team). I had also been stressed out that I was taking a week off between jobs because it was a stretch financially. I finally set up a meeting with my boss. I couldn't even sleep the night before.
Reigniting a friendship. My current best friend lived abroad for a year and we hadn't really met in person much if at all for a while before then either, only texting every now and then. When she moved back I asked if she wanted to meet up, and now we're really close.
My closest friend of 15 years just moved across the world and it's been really hard. This gives me hope!
Getting my pilot license.
Standing up for myself, and no longer being afraid to "upset" others by simply existing lol
My life improved considerably when I learned the magic of saying no to things I didn’t have to do or want to do. Most of the time, people just said ok and life went on.
Spill your secrets
fuck yeah! good job!
The day I left my abusive ex husband. I was so scared to leave but scared to stay. But once I broke free other felt so easy looking back in hindsight.
Designing and building two beautiful leaded glass window panes for our bathroom window. It’s pretty much like putting together a puzzle but you get to decide what shape the pieces are.
I wanted to meet my favorite band, so I just… quietly didn’t leave the venue once security started showing people out. I guess they thought I must’ve been a roadie, because they never got on my case. Anyway, I met them, yadda yadda, now I’m a professional concert lighting designer
I feel like there's a lot missing to this story in that "yadda yadda."
Haha. I was a private concert, maybe 50 people, for a band that used to sell out stadiums.
Spent a year thinking my bathroom electrical outlet was broken and needed a repair. One day someone suggested flipping the breaker. It was that easy.
My divorce.
Fuck yeah, adults being adults.
Exactly how mine went. Same situation, almost detail for detail.
In an attempt to sleep with a girl, I told her she was on my To Do List.
First time ever drunk, was tryna flirt with a girl and my friend was tryna hook up with a different girl
I'm gonna remember this one.
"You wanna make out?" has worked for me quite a bit.
Was at Carolina Beach last summer around Memorial Day. We get to the boardwalk one afternoon and there's an arcade there. There's a skill game where you have to press a button that moves a fixture with a razor on it. When you let the button go, the device stops and the razor snaps through the middle. There's a small string close to the glass. If you time it right, the razor cuts the string, and this huge door opens and you get all the prizes in the machine.
As someone who worked in the arcade and prize game space recently - you got lucky. Those games seem super easy, but the window of success is crazy narrow.
The bar exam. I thought I must have missed something or fallen into a bunch of traps because I finished early and everyone talked about how hard it was after. Turns out I just prepared well. I got a score way above passing and only 50 percent of takers passed that session overall.
What was weird for me, is that I did extremely high on GMAT and GRE so thought I was brilliant but barely got in 60th percentile on the LSAT. I remember multiple practice tests, and getting answers "wrong" and still not getting why the answer was wrong, even after reading the description in the back of the book. Like, if it was a murder mystery weekend and you were just supposed to know the butler did it even though there was only one clue they did it. But you could easily come up with two reasons why the cleaning lady did it....and then everyone arbitrarily decided you are just very wrong. That's how I felt about many of the LSAT questions
Telling a barber that you do no want your hair to be cut that short. He actually did not mind me saying it and noted it.
I tell them that and every fucking time they cut it too damn short!
Breaking up with someone who isn't good for me. I stayed wayyyyyy too long in relationships that I didn't want to be in.
When I realized I was the source of all my problems.
I think I always knew that
I learned how to ride a bike later (at 14, now I’m 24). At the time, I thought it would be impossible, but it literally was one foot after the other.
Operating an electric pallet jack. (One of my coworkers literally just showed me one day how to work it. No training required, just learn how it works.)
Disputing every negative item on your credit every December 12th. They take too long to review it due to the holiday and it falls off due to a 30 day deadline.
Learning to drive. First time around failed the written test by one question and it made me really anxious about the whole thing. Tried again a little while later and it was surprisingly easy, and the behind the wheel test was even easier.
I really needed to read this, thank you! I'm 25yo born and raised in NYC, you don't have a driver's license and no one questions it because of the public transportation here.
Leaving a three year relationship
Getting physically fit. Just 20 minutes of strength exercises maybe 4-6 days a week. It just shocked me how little effort it really took, and how much of a positive effect it had on me in basically every single way.
When I applied to college I applied for an Irish American scholarship. Turns out they had so few applicants they just gave me $40k towards my tuition. I am not even remotely Irish.
I got a small ($1,000) scholarship this exact same way. I was working two jobs and donating plasma 2X a week for meal money at the time, so every little bit helped.
I remember reading a thread a while ago where the OP ran a business getting students scholarships; they said that many scholarships went unfilled because no one knew they existed or applications were so few so they filled the gap.
The most profitable ~3 hours of my life was spent applying to scholarships.
Previous owners left a "broken" fridge in the kitchen when we moved in. Like literally put it in the paperwork that the fridge was broken and that they weren't going to dispose of it.
Went to the bar one night with some friends, ran into a girl that had worked for me a few years earlier. Said hi, chatted for a minute, she asks me where my girlfriend is. I let her know we broke up a couple months earlier. She is like "oh cool, well I'm here with my friends and I'm going to go hang out with them but if you want to hook up after the bar closes, I've always wanted you." I blink about 10 times in a row, "uh, that sounds awesome". And we did.
I'm a 24f who knows absolutely nothing about cars. Well I bought myself a nice front/rear dash cam without considering how to safely wire it, and found out I would have to remove parts of my car to wire it behind airbags and stuff (so it wouldn't prevent an airbag from deploying properly). I thought I was gonna have to pay someone to install for me, but turns out a simple YouTube video walked me through the whole thing! Now my dashcams look professionally installed. I also learned how to change a blown fuse on the same day because my USB adapter wasn't working. I was high on the achievement of something new and had a brief hyper-fixation on learning to mod my car but thankfully got over it lol.
Standing up to assholes. Most of them are cowards.
making an account asking for nudes. turns out it's that easy
And does it work?
Went to a small school, thought college would be very difficult. I was one of the smart kids, but thought I was a big fish in a small pond and went to a state school. I'm not saying I would do as good at Harvard, but I was stressing my first year when I could have done more extra curriculars.
Building muscle. I still struggle to shift fat but whatever way I’m wired, it’s incredibly easy to pack on muscle in the gym.
Ugh I'm jealous. I never put on any muscle, and you'd think it'd be easier because I'm a string bean.
I got into the U.S. Congress with an entirely fake background!
Found George Santos' account.
Work. Getting it it's 5000% harder.
Getting involved in the music industry behind the scenes.
I burped my radiator and did a ghetto coolant flush using nothing but Youtube clips. I can't even change my own oil. Once the heat was working again I felt like I had caught a fish with my bare hands.
My entire life is this moment. My parents and grandparents all had this really annoying habit of making anything and everything sound way harder or more requiring of great discipline than it actually is. And whenever I'd perform the feat, and realize how insultingly easy it was, I'd be left a little offended while my family would cheer me on. I never could tell if I was offended because I expected a harder challenge or offended because my own family thought I couldn't handle something so simple. Maybe it's an ego thing, maybe it's maybelline. I don't fuggin' know.
Low key this is a life hack. Making or thinking life is this super difficult thing and anyone doing anything impressive has some massive amount of work or discipline under their belt is simply making it harder for you to just start and try things. Without this mentality (the "that thing is so hard!") mentality, you're more open to working on something new. Starting is the hardest part, don't make it any harder by believing that it's going to be even more difficult.
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That’s awesome! What was the line?
Cleaning my toilet and sink after months of depression
The worst part is that it only ever takes like 15 fucking minutes, even if it seems a monumental task.
Stop drinking alcohol
yeah i never considered myself alcoholic but i realized that i just wasnt getting any enjoyment from it. like, just literally, nothing fun occurred because of the alcohol. so i just... dont drink it anymore. lol.
Building a pc. With so many sophisticated videos on youtube that doesn't explain/teach very well makes me think it's hard to build a pc.
I completely ruined the first (and last) brand-new car that I ever financed, by being a a sloppy idiot, and never changing the oil.
Every couple of months, after staring at a pile of important-looking mail with dread, I grit my teeth, suppress further procrastination, and start working through the pile.
Asking someone out
Stopped eating out and started making meals (real food) at home, then started doing the dishes before bed every night so the kitchen isn't messy. Life is a million percent better and I have way more money.
My job.
Don’t forget sitting in meetings!
Currently have an outrageously well paying job of over €200k+ as a software developer. I am not particularly intelligent nor enthusiastic about programming in any way.
Everything. Just fucking try to do it.
Getting over the fear of doing something routine you never imagined doing. It took me a while but it is both fun and can save money.
When I was working overseas for a US company I and many of my coworkers all developed a similar chronic health problem due to our employer's ongoing violation of several workplace health and safety laws. I repeatedly urged my coworkers to file SPOT reports, because it was not the kind of health issue that goes away on its own. Not one of my coworkers could be arsed to file a report, even though everyone bitched constantly about their resulting health issues. I filed a SPOT report. I ended up in two years of physical rehab back home, hauling in overseas money tax free, while not having to work, and ended with a generous five figure cash settlement. My health issues, thanks to the medical attention I was able to get by holding my employer accountable, have been resolved. My former coworkers, I imagine, are still just bitching about theirs.
Pirating eTextbooks instead of buying them.