Advice. It rarely comes when needed, often arrives unsolicited, and—when found on the Internet—is almost always pointless. If only there were a way to carefully curate those ultimate life hacks so that we could forgo the endless scrolling. But seriously, who has the time?
Luckily, one person did. And we can all benefit from his efforts.
Chris Hladczuk (aka @chrishlad) regularly shares helpful and interesting X (formerly Twitter) posts, but this one takes the social media cake. Hladczuk’s now viral thread began with:
“Most advice sucks. So I crowdsourced the best from 20 million people on Reddit. Here are 10 life tips you wish you knew yesterday.”
Whether you’re looking for sound mindset tips or simply wondering how to covertly exit from a troublesome phone call, Chris’ list has some useful (not to mention entertaining) pointers.
Family Treasure
Family Treasure
1) Get a blank book
2) Ask each family member over 50 to write down life advice that their descendants in 500 yrs should know
3) Keep passing it down
You now have a family treasure that gets more useful over time.— Chris Hladczuk (@chrishlad) September 11, 2021
Even if the advice doesn’t stand the test of time, it’s definitely a keepsake that would last. And could maybe even create a few laughs.
Airplane Mode Hack
Airplane Mode Hack
“If you’re stuck on an annoying call, put your phone on airplane mode instead of hanging up.
The other person sees “call failed” instead of “call ended”.— Chris Hladczuk (@chrishlad) September 11, 2021
No more more pretending to be driving through a tunnel.
Reframing Your Day
Reframing Your Day
“Instead of feeling that you lost the day after a bad morning,
Reframe each day as 4 quarters:
• morning
• midday
• afternoon
• evening
If you blow one quarter, just get back on track for the next one.
Fail small, not big.”
– Gretchen Rubin— Chris Hladczuk (@chrishlad) September 11, 2021
Waking up on the wrong side of the bed doesn’t have to negatively impact the rest of the day.
Keeping Your Cool
Keeping your Cool
“If someone insults you during a meeting, pretend like you didn’t hear them the first time.
Politely ask them to repeat themselves.
They’ll either repeat the insult and look rude or realize their mistake and apologize.”— Chris Hladczuk (@chrishlad) September 11, 2021
Conflict resolution in a matter of minutes.
Venting at Work
Venting at Work
“Be careful who you vent to at work.
Just because they listen, it doesn’t mean that they are your friend or have your best interests at heart.”— Chris Hladczuk (@chrishlad) September 11, 2021
Venting can be healthy, when given the right outlet. Perhaps there’s a better choice than the water cooler.
If You Ever Want Software Online for Free, Don’t Search for “Free.”
If you ever want software online for free, don’t search for “free”.
Search for “open source” to avoid limited trial versions and malware.— Chris Hladczuk (@chrishlad) September 11, 2021
Per usual, if something is labeled “free” online, it usually isn’t.
“e.g.” and “i.e.” Are Not the Same
“e.g.” and “i.e.” are not the same
e.g. = for example
i.e. = in other words— Chris Hladczuk (@chrishlad) September 11, 2021
Now you can impress all your friends with your etymology prowess.
Email Address Hack
Email Address Hack
• Add “+1”, “+2” before the @ in your email address
• Websites will register it as a new email, but still send mail to your normal address
Makes organizing accounts or free trials easy.
Example:
Primary: Bob@gmail(dot)com
Bob+1@gmail(dot)com— Chris Hladczuk (@chrishlad) September 11, 2021
Note: This only works on Gmail.
On Arguments
On Arguments
“What proof would it take to change your mind?”
If they can’t give you an answer, then stop wasting your time.— Chris Hladczuk (@chrishlad) September 11, 2021
This goes for online forums as well.
Anger and Mistakes
Anger and Mistakes
“Getting angry at people for making mistakes doesn’t teach them not to make mistakes.
It teaches them to hide their mistakes.”— Chris Hladczuk (@chrishlad) September 11, 2021
Mistakes should lead us forward, not keep us stuck in place.
If you’re itching to know what the other millions of people had to say, you can check out the original Reddit post here, and perhaps glean some gems for your own list.
This article originally appeared four years ago.
