You know, when something takes 10 seconds to fix, but you just don't do it and it ends up bothering you all day.
In my notebook I've written zero dollar habits that remove those small things and make your day run a lot smoother.
Category one, fix the obvious but ignored annoyances.
Let me start with an example.
So I have a dry, itchy scalp and it gets really annoying sometimes.
Last year, I tried the shampoo that completely fixed it.
No more itching, no more flaking.
It was actually perfect.
I finished the bottle and I still haven't bought it again.
So now I'm back to my old shampoo, and every time my scalp starts itching, I just think why have I still not reordered the thing that actually worked?
It's like seven dollars and i feel like i need to do that today.
Some other examples using a charger that barely works.
So your phone is always half dead and perhaps you even know that you have a good charger laying in a box somewhere, but you just can't get yourself to go look for it, and so you suffer through your badly charged phone every single day, Wearing clothes that almost fit but that feels slightly uncomfortable.
Perhaps there is an itchy tag or a seam that needs fixing.
Maybe a stain that you can't be bothered to remove, even though it annoys you every single time.
Ignoring something that needs replacing, like a zipper.
Or a lamp?
A hand soap that dries out your hands and smells like a perfume factory.
This next one drives me loco.
The auto brightness on your phone.
Basically, your environment may be quietly irritating you all day.
For category two, I have visible self-respect signals.
So I painted my toes red months ago and I never redid them.
And every time I've been barefoot I've been noticing and I've been thinking this really needs fixing.
When I went to my sister's place, I didn't have socks on.
I was literally thinking, good thing there are no guests here because that looks kind of bad.
And then my niece looks at my feet and she goes, girl, you need to repaint your toes.
And I did, same day.
And it's funny because it's such a small thing, but I've been avoiding it for months for no reason.
Other examples shaving your legs so that you can comfortably and spontaneously wear the short dress, instead of putting pants on when it's suddenly sunny and 25 degrees outside.
Putting on clean sheets, even if you don't feel like it, knowing that those 10 minutes will actually improve your mood and sleep quality.
Looking put together so you don't run the other direction when you spot someone you know outside.
Basically, you don't need to transform yourself, just signal care.
Category three, getting small things in order.
There's actually a reason that I was even barefoot to begin with that day.
And it's a bit embarrassing.
So I washed all of my socks a few days ago and I just never took them out of the washer.
I haven't even checked on them.
So I've basically been wearing my ballet flats everywhere just to avoid dealing with it.
And I know that sounds like a small, silly thing, but that's kind of my point.
You know I'm actually pretty good with big decisions and big life changes, but these really small everyday things I tend to ignore them until they start affecting my day and even beyond, like in this case.
And that's something that I've been understanding more in therapy.
And this video is in paid partnership with BetterHelp, which fits perfectly, because therapy has been one of the only spaces where I've been able to look at patterns like this without judging myself for them.
Like, instead of just beating myself up for being this way, it's more about understanding what's actually behind it.
For me.
I've realized that I tend to put off really small things when they feel even slightly annoying or like they will take more effort than I want to give right then.
I'm basically avoidant in more ways than one.
But that's a private conversation between me and her.
And once you actually see that pattern, it becomes a lot easier to interrupt it instead of just repeating it.
BetterHelp makes starting therapy feel simple.
You fill out a short questionnaire and they match you with a therapist, so you don't have to figure everything out on your own from the beginning.
And if it doesn't feel like the right fit for you, you can just switch to someone else, which I think is really important.
You can also do sessions in different ways, like video phone or messaging, helping you easily integrate therapy to your life in a way that feels seamless.
So if you've been feeling a bit overwhelmed or just noticing patterns in your life that you want to understand better, I think BetterHelp can be a really helpful space to do that.
Right now, you can get a 10 discount on your first month of therapy by visiting BetterHelpcom.
Slash Lana.
I've also linked it down below.
So, besides taking five minutes to throw our socks onto the drying rack, what are some other ways that you can Get small things in order to help not just yourself in the moment, but also remove friction for tomorrow you?
You can water your plants and watch the soil go from dry to wet.
I think it's underrated how good that can make you feel like you're being a responsible parent.
Paying that boring bill that you are going to have to pay anyway.
Buying a pack of milk today.
So you don't sigh at yourself tomorrow morning when you're craving a latte, you'll have to settle for black coffee.
Prepping a bag in advance, putting your keys where you will immediately see them, cleaning up your phone storage right before a trip, because you already know that you're going to need space and you don't want to be standing somewhere like the Great Wall trying to take a photo and seeing storage full.
Future you should not have to negotiate basic tasks.
Category four, tiny aesthetic upgrades that fix your state.
Sometimes it's something really small and visual around me that just feels slightly off.
I think we underestimate how much our brain reacts to what we see all day.
Things like lightning that is white and cold instead of that warm yellow, a stained surface that you avoid, a chip mug that is kind of ugly and also uncomfortable to hold a plant that has clearly outgrown its pot and looks like it's struggling.
Or you know, when something is just slightly in the way like covering a corner of the TV and you can see it the whole time.
And instead of fixing it, you just tolerate it.
And it kind of ruins the whole experience a little bit.
We do that sometimes, you know, we tolerate small things being slightly off.
Instead of just fixing them in 10 seconds, we'll rather be annoyed for the next two hours.
Now ask yourself, are you ignoring micro discomforts?
Are you tolerating a lot of small annoyances all day?
All of that?
Mental gymnastics may be stacking up more than you realize.
