For a new project, how do you decide WHAT to do WHEN? We propose that there are two main types of projects: ‘Jigsaw Puzzles’ and ‘Quests’. Let’s explore each type and how to best prioritize the tasks that they involve.

Type 1: Jigsaw Puzzles

A ‘Jigsaw Puzzle’ has a finite scope; you know what the steps are, more or less. Each piece of the puzzle has to be included in the project, so the question is just what order to do them in. A good example of a ‘Jigsaw Puzzle Project’ is completing an essay assignment for school, constructing a bookshelf for your room, or making a meal according to a new recipe. There are two guiding principles for prioritizing steps in ‘Jigsaw Puzzles’:

• The Laziness Principle: which steps make subsequent steps easier? Do those steps first because they reduce the effort of the whole project. With a literal jigsaw puzzle, trying to fill in the middle section too early may just waste time and effort, whereas doing the edges of the puzzle first will make the middle easier. You should focus first on the parts of your project that simplify future parts.
• The Motivation Principle: right now, work on the hardest parts of the project that you have sufficient energy, motivation, or focus to tackle. That way, life will be easier for future-you, who may have less energy, motivation, or focus left to spare. Be kind to your future self! You’ll be glad you did. Putting off hard parts makes the work as a whole more stressful.

Since, with a ‘Jigsaw Puzzle’ project, all the parts have to be completed at some point, all you’re really deciding on is the order in which you complete the project. It makes sense to choose an order to minimize total effort and stress (while maximizing your effectiveness). The two principles above make this possible.

Type 2: Quests

The other type of project is Quests. Unlike Jigsaw Puzzles, Quests are open-ended projects, both in how long they will take and in what steps should be completed. Good examples of quests include founding a tech startup, getting fit and healthy, or undertaking a big creative project. How do you prioritize the parts of a Quest?

Goal 

Figure out what you’re truly trying to achieve in your Quest that is of value (for instance, is the goal of your startup, fundamentally, to make people more productive, to make them happier, to reduce stress, to help them have better relationships, or something else?) 

For external-facing Quests, the ultimate goal should be framed in terms of the value you are seeking to deliver to your users (and so is based on a hypothesis about what your users truly find valuable). For internal facing quests (i.e., personal projects), the Quest should be framed in terms of what YOU value.

As you get deeper into a project, you’ll eventually have subgoals to your goals and sub-subgoals to your subgoals. But you must always remember the reason you’re doing the project in the first place. In other words, you must never stop thinking about the value (for your users in an external project, or for yourself for a personal project) that you are trying to create. Many different pressures can push you away from creating actual value: what’s exciting, what’s cool or trendy, what’s socially rewarded, what your investors want, what a committee can agree on, and so on. It’s incredibly common to start veering off course from the value you intend to create, and to spend years working on something that doesn’t create value at all! Don’t make that mistake: always keep the ultimate value in sight, even if you are working on a sub-sub-subgoal; otherwise, you’ll inevitably start adding bells and whistles to your project that don’t produce any value.

Options

Brainstorm options for the next steps of your Quest. There are many things you could do at any moment to work towards your project. Keep a broad view when considering the options for which task you should work on to reduce the chance of missing really good options. To generate ideas for steps, show your intended audience what you have so far, look at related projects, discuss with friends and experts, run surveys, and so on.

Remember, the choice you make for what to work on is only as good as the best option you considered! On the other hand, don’t overwhelm yourself by generating 50 different options that you’ll then go crazy trying to choose between. You need to strike a reasonable balance between over and under optimizing the steps for your Quest.

Score

Rate each potential option for what to work on by how valuable you think it is (for users, if an external project, to you, if a personal project), and how effortful it would be to implement (in terms of time, energy, cost, etc.). The best options to work on are those with the highest value in relation to the required effort (that is, value divided by effort is maximal). This basic approach of scoring options by both value and effort (or, in some cases, urgency, and importance) goes by a lot of different names, including the Priority Matrix or Eisenhower Box. What you’ll learn below is a somewhat more sophisticated version of this basic idea.

Compare

Group these options based on effort and value. This leads to FOUR options, as shown in this diagram:

Option 1: ‘Low Hanging Fruit’

These are the low-effort, high-value actions (upper left of the chart) that you should address first.

As soon as you start to run out of this kind of action, do more brainstorming, do more customer interviews, talk to more experts, analyze more data, etc. to discover more. You should always be searching for low hanging fruit, and as long as you have some available, that’s what you should be working on!

Option 2 and 3: ‘Quick Wins’ and ‘Leaps’

While looking for more ‘Low Hanging Fruit’, it’s good to include a mix of ‘Quick Wins’ — low value but low effort tasks, such as minor tweaks and bug fixes — and ‘Leaps’ — high value but high-effort tasks, such as new features. When there is no ‘Low Hanging Fruit’ (and you haven’t yet found more), doing a mix of ‘Quick Wins’ and ‘Leaps’ in parallel is usually best. If you only focus on ‘Quick Wins,’ you’ll get stuck in local optimals that prevent you from taking the project to the next level. If you only do ‘Leaps’, then you won’t have the feeling of making progress and may end up investing a lot of time in something that ultimately has to be thrown away, leading to a lack of project momentum.

For ‘Leaps’, you have to be really confident in their value before undertaking them since they burn up a lot of time/energy. Customer interviews, surveys, expert feedback, quick prototypes, data analysis of existing use, and playing devil’s advocate on your own assumptions can reduce the chance of wasteful leaps. Gathering more information is often critical before deciding to take a ‘Leap’. Meanwhile, ‘Quick Wins’ and ‘Low Hanging Fruit’ don’t require as much confidence as ‘Leaps’ because they are lower effort.

One other thing to keep in mind about ‘Quick Wins’, is that, as time passes, it can become increasingly costly to overlook them. For instance, what is now a minor issue with your database system can grow into major data corruption, or some dampness in the house you’re building can grow into pervasive mold. We’ll call these “Smoldering Quick Wins.” Those should be prioritized above ‘Leaps’ and other ‘Quick Wins’ because now they are easy, but soon they could represent a substantial problem.

Option 4: ‘Traps’ 

The 4th type of task is ‘Traps’ – the high effort, low-value tasks. Avoid these! They are a waste of time. Try to be clear-eyed when evaluating tasks; there is always a risk of getting sucked into ‘Traps’, for example, because a very small but very vocal group of users wants certain functionality, or by not calculating in advance how much effort certain tasks will take. You will also likely encounter situations where you just feel motivated or excited to work on a ‘Trap’ for some reason. Resist this temptation!

So, how to prioritize more effectively? For Jigsaw Puzzles, remember:

• Decide the order in which you complete the project by minimizing effort and stress while maximizing effectiveness.

For Quests, remember:

• Identify the value you are trying to create with your project, and always keep it in sight.
• Generate a multiple options for what you could do next
• Score options based on the value produced and effort/cost
• Narrow down your options into the four types: Low Hanging Fruit (high value, low effort), ‘Quick Wins’ (low value, low effort), ‘Leaps’ (high value, high effort), and ‘Traps’ (low value, high effort)
• Tackle ‘Low Hanging Fruit’ first, and as soon as you start to run out of it, start seeking more by getting feedback, talking to experts, brainstorming, etc.
• Then complete a mix of ‘Quick Wins’ and ‘Leaps’. Remember that ‘Leaps’ require confidence to proceed, so it is usually wise to gather information before moving forward with them.
• Be on the lookout for ‘Smoldering Quick Wins’ that are now easy to take care of, but could escalate if not dealt with. Complete these before ‘Leaps’ and other ‘Quick Wins’!
• Avoid ‘Traps’!

Interestingly enough, we can program ourselves in this way, and it’s not even that hard to do. As a simple example, you can program yourself so that when you FIRST ENTER YOUR KITCHEN IN THE MORNING, you always DRINK A TALL GLASS OF WATER. Or you can create a rule in your mind so that when you TAKE YOUR FIRST BITE OF EACH MEAL, you DEEPLY SAVOR IT to get more pleasure from your food.

These if-then plans are sometimes known as “implementation intentions” in the psychology literature (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implementation_intention) or TAPs (i.e., trigger action plans – a term used by the Center for Applied Rationality – see: https://www.rationality.org). Below, I share my own spin on this concept and describe how you can apply these if-then plans to make improvements in many different areas of your life, including health, learning, happiness, productivity, relationships, and rational thinking.

I’ll start with a quick, step-by-step guide to programming yourself, then list several of my favorite “self-programs.” Feel free to pick a few from the list to try yourself!

— Steps for Programming Yourself —

Step 1 – Choose

Choose a situation (S) and an action (A) that you’d like to take when you’re in that situation. For instance, the situation might be ARRIVING AT HOME AFTER WORK. The action might be PLACING YOUR KEYS IN A BOWL BY THE DOOR, so you always know where they are. See my list of self-programming examples down below for many more ideas.

Step 2 – Intend

Set an intention to perform that action (A) whenever you are in that situation (S). This means genuinely committing (to yourself) to take the action every time you encounter the situation. Note that there’s a subtle but critical difference between thinking about doing something and committing to doing it. You have to do the latter.

Step 3 – Associate

Now it’s time to create an association between the situation (S) and the action (A) so that when S occurs, A immediately pops into your mind. Basically, you’ll be mentally linking the two elements.

Here are a few strategies for creating this connection. The more of these strategies you use, the better. But they won’t all apply to all situations.

Strategies for linking the situation (S) and the action (A) in your mind:

• Create: If you can artificially create the situation, then do so repeatedly, following through with the action each time. For instance, if the situation is finishing brushing your teeth, and the action is flossing, practice holding your toothbrush to your mouth as though you just finished brushing, then putting down your toothbrush and immediately picking up the floss. Do this 20 times in a row to create the connection (A ⟶ S) in your brain.

• Imagine: If you are good at forming mental imagery, vividly visualize the situation occurring, followed by imagining yourself taking the desired action. Repeat this 20 times. If, in real life, you anticipate variations in how the situation plays out, modify your visualizations to include potential variations. That way, you don’t become trained on a too-narrow version of the situation.

• Write: Jot the if-then intention on a piece of paper, and leave it somewhere in your home where it is noticeable. When you get used to it being in that location to the point where you’re barely noticing it anymore, move it somewhere else in your home so that it stays fresh.

• Speak: repeat the phrase “whenever S occurs I’ll do A” 20 times (either aloud, or in your mind), replacing S and A with the corresponding situation and action.

• Review: make a list of all the if-then intentions you’re currently working to create in your mind, and review that list each morning, just after you wake up. Leave it on your bedside table or on your work desk so you can’t miss it.

• Motivate: make a list of the benefits (to yourself or others) of taking that action every time you are in that situation. This may increase your motivation to follow through with the plan.

• Involve: tell someone you trust that you plan to take that action whenever you are in that situation (ideally, someone who might be around when you are in that situation so that they can help remind you).

• Reflect: think about a time when you succeeded at making one of these if-then plans for yourself in the past. Take a minute to write about how you accomplished that. Now take another minute to write about how you could apply what you learned in that case to this new situation (this is the “Habit Reflection” technique: http://bit.ly/385cn5D). I think it’s more effective to actually do the writing, not merely thinking about what your answers would be.

 —

Step 4. Act

Every time you find yourself remembering to take the action in a given situation, actually do it! In the beginning, try hard to do the action every single time the action occurs (without missing any), as this will help establish a robust link in your mind between the situation and action.

 If you follow through consistently enough and keep it up for long enough, most likely, the action will eventually turn into a habit triggered by the situation. 

—

But what rules is it actually useful to program yourself with? 

Here’s my list of favorite “self-programs.” Some of these I’ve already installed as habits, others I’m still learning to associate with the trigger. Still others I merely aspire to one day have installed in my mind. Finally, hold value but don’t quite match my lifestyle, so I figure they are still worth including.

I’ve written each self-program in the form: Situation ⟶ Action

Meaning that you intend to perform the action every time the situation occurs.

— My Favorite Self-Programs —

HEALTH

* You enter the kitchen for the first time after waking ⟶ drink a tall glass of water

* You finish your first beverage in the morning ⟶ gently stretch a part of your body that has poor mobility or that is unreasonably tight for 1-2 minutes (e.g., It used to be my right shoulder, but, thanks to this habit, my decade-long shoulder problem is 90% resolved!)

* You close your eyes to try to fall asleep ⟶ breathe slowly and deeply, then gently focus your attention on your breath. Whenever you become distracted or find yourself thinking of something else, notice that it’s happened and gently refocus your attention back on your breath. Try to continue this until you’re asleep.

* You feel hungry before bed ⟶ eat carrots, nuts, or an apple (instead of junky snack food)

* You put down your toothbrush ⟶ floss or use a gum stimulator/rubber pick to clean between your teeth.

LEARNING

* Someone introduces you to an abstract idea that you don’t understand ⟶ ask if they could give you an example or if they could explain it using different words

* You learn something that surprises you ⟶ take a moment to consider what you previously believed about the subject (e.g., if your best friend does something that surprises you, ask them about the behavior, as it’s great opportunity to understand your friend better). Keep in mind that the sensation of surprise occurs when our perception of reality doesn’t match reality itself!

* You learn a new idea that seems worth remembering or have your own idea that seems worth remembering ⟶ jot down some notes about what you learned (ideally as simple flashcards), and be sure to review them at some point before you forget the idea (e.g., you can try out our beta tool at https://www.thoughtsaver.com to make this idea recording and reviewing process easier)

* You make a big mistake ⟶ take a few minutes to write about why you think the mistake happened (both immediate causes and deeper root causes), and what you can learn from it, to avoid making similar mistakes in the future. You can try out our “learning from mistakes” tool to make this process easier (see: http://bit.ly/3biQ3HN).

* Someone explains something complicated to you, and you’re not certain that you understand it ⟶ try to explain the idea back to the other person in your own words and see if they agree you understood it properly (e.g., “So are you saying that…”)

HAPPINESS

* You take your first bite of food at a meal ⟶ pay very close attention to the taste and texture, chewing slowly to deeply savor that first bite. We can get so much more pleasure from food if we direct our attention in the right way, upgrading meals from two-star to four-star, just by maintaining the right focus!

* You wake up in the morning ⟶ think about one thing you are looking forward to (it could be small, like your morning cup of tea, or large, like a big project you are launching in a month). This can help get you looking forward to the day.

* You lie down in bed for the night ⟶ think of one fond memory from your life. If you have trouble thinking of random fond memories, start with a random time frame (e.g., “last week”) or place (e.g., “the beach”) or activity (e.g., “sports”) and use that prompt to jog your memory.

* You leave your bedroom for the first time each morning ⟶ think of one thing you are grateful for.

* You finish checking social media ⟶ smile and think of something you think is good or something that makes you happy.

* You get a calf cramp ⟶ flex the toes on the corresponding foot towards your head (moving your heel away from you). This will often alleviate the cramp immediately (if that doesn’t work, drink a shot of juice from a pickle jar, which is, apparently, an effective alternative).

* You receive a nice compliment ⟶ write it down immediately so that you can get the benefit of experiencing it more than once. You can even keep a list of the best compliments you’ve ever received.

* You notice a sudden change in your emotional state (e.g., you start becoming anxious, sad, frustrated, or angry) ⟶ immediately give yourself the best quick explanation you can for why your emotions may have shifted. It’s often easier to figure out the cause if you ask this question immediately, compared to, for example, interpreting it 20 minutes later. I call this the “Inner Why” technique (you can learn more about it here: http://bit.ly/2uhJvc1)

RELATIONSHIPS

* Someone starts a conversation with you ⟶ fully focus on what the person is saying, giving them your complete and genuine interested attention (see: http://bit.ly/2SIPzBx)

* Someone you just met tells you their name ⟶ focus on the name as they say it with the intention of remembering it, then repeat their name back (e.g., “nice to meet you Sam”). This can really help with remembering people’s names. Even better, use the Tacayo Technique if you really want to remember their name (see: http://bit.ly/2upNxPr)

* You think something positive about a person that you are confident they would feel good hearing ⟶ send it to them as a message or say it to them directly, if practical. As the adage goes, “thinking something nice about a person without saying it, is like wrapping a present and never giving it.”

* You see someone you really like (e.g., a close friend) ⟶ channel your warm feelings for them and radiate those positive feelings on your face, your body language, and with your words, so that the person viscerally experiences how much you like them.

* You’re irritable and become provoked by something minor that someone does ⟶ take a couple slow, deep breaths before saying anything (so that you are less likely to take your mood out on the other person).

* You notice you’ve been talking for a long while in a conversation ⟶ redirect focus to the other person so that they have the opportunity to talk. Most people prefer a balanced conversation, so if you talk more than 60% (which a lot of people do, unfortunately), becoming more self-aware and considerate will markedly improve your relationships. Admittedly, I sometimes make this mistake when I’m excited about a topic (you can learn more about this preference people have, from a study I ran, here: http://bit.ly/2HcH7pr).

* You see your partner or roommate for the first time since they/you left for work ⟶ greet them affectionally and ask about their day with a genuine interest and a high level of focus.

* Someone is telling you about something that happened to them ⟶ employ active listening skills by asking questions that help them clarify their thoughts and elaborate on interesting or important details. In addition to demonstrating your interest in their life, this helps them relive their experience in a useful or pleasurable way.

* Someone you are close to unknowingly does something that hurts

you⟶ bring it up. Explain how you felt as a result of their action, why you felt that way, and what you would prefer them to do next time. Try to phrase this information in a way that is not accusatory. Stick to facts about what happened and how the facts affected you. Avoid derailing the conversation with potentially disputable assumptions (you can learn more about how to do this well here: http://bit.ly/39pIWM9).

PRODUCTIVITY

* You return home ⟶ put your keys, wallet, headphones, etc., in exactly the same place (so you can always find them).

* You’re about to finish a warm shower, and are feeling sleepy, yet you have a lot still to do. ⟶ turn the water to cold for the last 10 seconds to wake yourself and feel invigorated.

* You arrive at your work desk in the morning ⟶ put on headphones with energetic, non-distracting (e.g., acoustic) music to help get you motivated and in the zone.

* You read an email or message that would take less than 2 minutes to respond to ⟶ respond immediately, rather than procrastinating on the reply. This saves time because you won’t have to read or think about that message again, plus people generally prefer faster responses.

* You begin work for the day ⟶ write down the single most important thing for you to get done that day, which you hope to achieve even if you get nothing else done.

RATIONALITY

* You notice you are trying to convince yourself of something (e.g., “I’m too tired to go to the gym today” or “It would be too stressful to give that presentation”) ⟶ ask yourself instead “is this actually true? What’s evidence exists for and against this?” (try this tool to make this easier: http://bit.ly/31J4znR)

* You notice yourself thinking or saying, “I believe x” when a more accurate conclusion is crucial ⟶ ask yourself, “What percent chance would I actually assign to X being true?” (here’s a tool we helped make to help you practice this: http://bit.ly/39hq9lM).

* You’re making an important decision but you haven’t fully explored your options ⟶ force yourself to come up with at minimum a third option (or even better, apply our decision advisor tool: http://bit.ly/2yIjL96)

* You are learning about a politically or emotionally charged topic for the first time ⟶ seek out multiple sources of information from various perspectives, that are unlikely to have the same biases as each other. Otherwise, you may end up being heavily biased by whatever source you happen to read.

* You and another person strongly disagree about what’s going to happen in the near future ⟶ make a small bet with them. This forces you to consider how confident you are.

* You hear or read a weak argument in favor of a fairly popular view that you disagree with ⟶ try to come up with a stronger version of their argument (i.e., “Steel Man” the argument) so that you get a more nuanced perspective of both what’s wrong and what’s right about the view they are defending.

* You come across evidence for or against one of your beliefs and aren’t sure how much it should change your mind ⟶ ask yourself, “how many times more likely would I be to see this evidence if my belief was true compared to if my belief was false?” This number reflects the strength of the evidence, with 1 meaning the evidence is totally neutral (neither for or against the hypothesis), higher numbers (above 1) indicate more evidence, lower numbers (below 1) indicate less evidence (you can learn more about the proper way to interpret evidence here: http://bit.ly/38cN6GH)

1. I just made a huge mistake; what on earth is wrong with me? How the hell could I be so stupid?

Reframe: I’ll learn so much from this mistake that I’m never going to make one like it again.

2. This bag is too heavy, I have to walk way too far

Reframe: Exercise is healthy, and people pay trainers to get them to lift heavy stuff or go on the treadmill, this is just exercise with the world as my trainer!

3. This train/bus/line is taking forever, what a pain!

Reframe: This is a great time to read an interesting article, listen to one of my favorite songs, text a friend that I haven’t spoken to in a while, think about the big decision I have to make soon, or recall what I learned in that book I read recently

Note: For your safety, don’t do these things if you are driving

4. I’m badly losing this argument; this is irritating. I need to work harder to prove I’m right.

Reframe: I’ll end up with more accurate beliefs and prove that I’m the sort of person that can change my mind if I acknowledge that the other person has made a good argument, and it may even make them think better of me (compared to desperately trying to prove their good argument wrong).

5. That person I thought I had a good conversation with never replied when I contacted them, I must have done something offputting.

Reframe: There are numerous reasons why someone wouldn’t reply (email went to spam, forgot to reply, personal crises, didn’t have a great first impression of me, not looking to make friends, went traveling, etc.), and this person doesn’t know what I’m really like, so it can’t be deeply personal, but I can certainly work more at making a great first impression to reduce the chance it happens in the future

6. I failed at this thing I tried really hard at; there must be something wrong with me.

Reframe: If I never fail, I’m not trying things that are hard enough to challenge me, and each time I try something hard, I will have some chance of success and some chance of failure, so failure is totally expected and normal, though I should try my best to diagnose why it happened so I can improve.

7. This is so incredibly unfair; I can’t stand it.

Reframe: This is something I really don’t like, and that might make a lot of people unhappy. I should definitely try to change it if I can, but there is no rule that says the world is fair; the universe owes me nothing. I’ve withstood plenty of bad things in the past, and I can and will withstand this, as I work to make the thing better.

8. That random bad thing I just thought of might just happen, that would be bad if it did; I’d better mull that possibility over in my mind.

Reframe: [if it’s minor], so what if it does happen? I’ll get through it easily or [if there’s something I can do about it] I’ll plan to do this thing now or as soon as possible to reduce the risk or (if there’s not much of anything I can do) I could spend my whole life worrying about things I can’t change that might happen, but that would just make me miserable and not help anything so I should focus on something else now that will distract me.

9. I can’t believe my friend flaked out on me/did that annoying thing, it’s so disrespectful.

Reframe: [if I think they are unlikely to do this sort of thing again] that is not characteristic of this person, and everyone messes up sometimes, I’ve certainly messed up before, this is probably just a fluke, and I should forgive it, or [f you think they are likely to do this sort of thing again] I should make sure they know I don’t like when they behave like this, but beyond that, I then need to decide whether I want to be friends with someone who is prone to behave this way.

10. I can’t believe I did that bad/shameful thing many years ago, I still feel guilty about it.

Reframe: [if I’m no longer the sort of person who would do that thing] I did that long in the past, and the person I am now would never do it again, so it’s time to forgive myself, or [if I still am the sort of person who might do that thing] I’m still prone to doing things like that, I should deeply consider why that is, and what the next, concrete step I can take is towards no longer being better.

When we’re choosing what to eat, healthy food may not be the tasty, cheap, or convenient option. How can we prevent this tension between healthiness and the other factors we care about?

Another reason healthy eating is hard is that we are normally forced to choose whether to make the healthy choice (or not) over and over again each day. So, even if we resist eating junk five times, we may succumb the 6th time (and eat too much chocolate cake). How we can avoid choice fatigue and being worn down by temptation?

There is a simple trick that sometimes works like magic to solve the problems above:

A. Eat exactly the same breakfast, lunch, and between-meal snacks five days per week.

B. Choose those pre-selected meals and snacks very carefully. They must be (1) healthy, (2) tasty (to you), (3) convenient, (4) within your budget, (5) nutritiously diverse.

Why these five criteria?

(1) If the food is not healthy, it defeats the whole purpose. So be sure to pick your meals and snacks to be things you’re really confident are healthy (which can be trickier than it seems, given how much contradictory information is out there regarding nutrition).

(2) On the other hand, if the foods you choose are not tasty, you’ll be more likely to eventually quit or grow annoyed with the plan.

(3) If the foods are not convenient to make/get/prepare/order/buy, then when something unexpected comes up, you’re stressed or you’re busy, you may well deviate from the plan.

(4) If the food is not within your budget, you’ll be creating an unsustainable drain on your bank account.

(5) And if the meals are not nutritionally diverse, you’ll be exposing yourself to the possibility of nutritional deficiency and increasing the chance that you get tired of what you’re eating. Note that individuals seem to vary considerably in how quickly they get sick of foods.

I find that I get tired of homogenous foods (e.g., baked potatoes) rapidly, but diverse foods (e.g., a standardized salad with the same exact mix of highly diverse ingredients) I can eat for months without getting tired of them.

It’s really hard on a random day to find foods that meet all 5 of the criteria mentioned above, but this simple plan only requires you to do it ONCE and then to apply that template daily.

I find that, since the plan is totally standardized, it’s a lot easier not to experience temptation. It can become pretty automatic, which is what you want. But still, you should avoid keeping tempting foods nearby because they can make it a lot harder to stick to your plan. The key is to minimize having to make tradeoffs or resist tempting foods.

By regimenting your food in this way, it also can be easier to lose weight, (if that’s your goal, because you can vary the calories in your daily plan). It can also make it much easier to make other dietary alterations, such as reducing sugar or becoming vegetarian or vegan.

There are four reasons I recommend having the regimenting stop before dinner and not apply on the weekends:

• If your selected foods are not diverse enough, you may be missing out on something your body could benefit from, and allowing flexibility at dinner and on weekends will increase your food diversity. Food cravings may also help guide you to things your body needs (e.g., if you don’t have enough salt, you may crave it or find it extra delicious) though it’s disputed whether that sort of honed food craving is a real thing (clearly many cravings we have are not because our bodies need that thing; unless our bodies really need ice cream).

• Dinner time and weekends tend to be the most social eating times, so the plan won’t interfere as much socially.

• Food is one of the joys of life, so dinners and weekends will still give you time to explore the variety.

• By allowing variety with dinner and on the weekends, the whole plan will be less annoying, making it easier to stick with.

Of course, you’ll have to practice reasonable moderation at dinner and on weekends to make sure that you really are eating healthier overall. If you have trouble doing that, you may want to standardize even more meals.

Of course, this plan is not ideal for everyone. Some people would surely get sick of a daily regimen, even if it is diverse. Others might find it hard to stick to such a plan due to temptations or might conclude that the novelty of different foods is too important to them; even if the plan only involves breakfast, lunch, and snacks five days a week.

My prediction, however, is that many people would find this approach to be one of the simplest and most effortless ways to eat better.

If a food regimen like this is what you already gravitate to, or if you’ve been on such a plan for a while, then the next question to ask yourself is: can I make my plan even healthier without significantly losing out on cost, convenient or taste? Your future, healthier self will reap the rewards.

Step 1:

Write down a list of the three most significant problems in your life right now

Example:

The three biggest problems are –

(1) I don’t feel rested when I wake up

(2) I worry too much

(3) I need to make a difficult decision at work

Step 2: 

Choose the problem from Step 1 that you think it would be easiest to make improvements in, given how much effort it would take.

Example: The problem of “not feeling rested when I wake” seems to have the largest potential impact on my life, and is relatively easy to make improvement in compared to the others.

Step 3: 

Write down three solutions that might help to address that one problem you selected.

Example:

Three potential solutions to this problem are:

(1) Waking up at the same time every morning no matter when I go to sleep

(2) Meditating for 10 minutes each night immediately before sleep to lower stress and make my mind less active 

(3) Requesting a “sleep lab” test from my doctor (to investigate my poor sleep quality further)

Step 4: 

Select one solution (from the three you wrote down) that you think is most likely to help with the least amount of effort involved.

Example: The easiest thing to try first that might help my sleep quality is meditating 10 minutes before sleeping each night

Step 5: 

Identify the very first step to implementing the solution from Step 4 (it should be simple and straight forward)

Example: Search Google for simple meditation techniques to try

Step 6: 

Take that first step immediately, or plan the exact day and time when you will take that step (e.g., by putting it on your calendar)

Example: Put ‘search on Google for meditation techniques’ into your calendar for this Monday at 8 am.

A friend asked me to help him make a plan to become happier. He is already pretty happy, but thought he could be more so. What you see below is the general life improvement plan we came up with, which should apply to most people (plus some improvements I added for this post).

Each week of the plan is an experiment, where you work on improving one aspect of your life (sleep, friendships, work, and so on). Trying new things doesn’t take much time, but can yield large benefits. Some parts of the plan will inevitably be duds, but the great thing with experimentation is that you can continue doing the stuff you discover to be most valuable and just discard the rest.

If you decide to try this for yourself, you can use the plan below exactly as is, or just pick out the weeks that seem most relevant to you. And if you do give it a try, let me know how it works for you!

Here’s the plan for improving your life.

Week 1:  Savoring Week

Savoring week is a response to the idea that people often forget to schedule highly pleasurable activities (especially when feeling depressed), and easily fall into a habit of doing the easy, always available things that are only modestly pleasurable (e.g. TV watching). Really enjoyable experiences often take a bit of planning and effort to create.

What to do this week:

1. Plan three highly pleasurable experiences that you wouldn’t typically do.
2. Make sure to savor as intensely as you can during each experience. Turn off your cell phone, remove other distractions, and try to become fully and solely aware of the experience itself.
3. Set a reminder on your phone or in your calendar that will go off just before each pleasurable experience begins, reminding you to turn off your phone and to focus intensely on savoring.

Some ideas for pleasurable activities:

• Take a walk in the most beautiful place you know.
• Watch the sunset or sunrise from a nice vantage point.
• Play a sport that you really enjoy.
• Schedule a professional massage, or trade long massages with your significant other.
• Buy your favorite dessert, and eat it very slowly with a small spoon (avoid conversation or distractions during this, just focus on the taste).

Week 2: Gratitude Week

Gratitude week is inspired by the positive psychology movement and researchers like Martin Seligman, who’ve found that so called “Gratitude Visits” can have a substantially positive impact on people’s moods. The task may sound a bit daunting, but people frequently find it to be a moving experience (for all involved).

What to do:

1. Write a 200-500 word letter to someone who did or said something that changed your life for the better. Tell them in the letter about how what they did that improved your life, and express your gratitude.
2. Ask them to meet with you, but don’t tell them why.
3. When you see them, tell them you wrote something for them, and read  the letter out loud. Alternatively, you could just send them the letter, but that is less likely to be an emotional and moving experience.

Some ideas for people to write your gratitude letter to:

• A friend or mentor who once gave you fantastic, life changing advice.
• Your father or mother.
• A teacher who had a large impact on you.

Week 3: Friendship Week

Our social relationships are one of the most important drivers of our happiness, yet it’s so easy to fall into routines regarding who we spend time with. It can be helpful to step back from time to time and think about prioritizing our social relationships, so that we stay in close contact with those we most value.

1. At the beginning of the week, set aside 30 minutes (it’s best to schedule this in your calendar) to jot down a list of your close friends, as well as acquaintances you’d like to know better (use Facebook to help if need be).
2. Go through and pick out 3 or 4 of these people (that you are not already seeing on a weekly basis) that you most enjoy seeing or who you think can add the most value to your life.
3. Email or call each of those people and setup a time to see them during friendship week.
4. After seeing each, schedule another time on the calendar to see them again during the two weeks afterward.
5. Start building a pattern of seeing these people regularly.

Week 4: Sleep Week

Sleep week has a huge impact on how we feel, yet a great many of us don’t sleep enough or don’t sleep well. For some, it’s been years since they’ve gotten as much sleep as they need for 7 consecutive nights.

What to do:

1. Try two or three new ways of sleeping (schedule in your calendar when you’re going to try each). See below for a list of ideas. You might find (as many people report) that one of these improves your sleep quality.
2. Set alarms to remind you when to start getting ready for bed each night, such that you make sure you get as many hours as you need to feel your best. Do this for the whole week, so that you get an entire week of the ideal number of sleep hours. Try to get to bed at the same time each night that week, as well. You’ll be reminded  what feeling extremely well rested feels like!

Ideas of sleep experiments to try

• Install flux for your computer to reduce the amount of blue light you get before bedtime.
• Put on special glasses at night to block blue light.
• Try sleeping with a sleep mask or ear plugs.
• Try using a different number of pillows than you usually do (fewer or more).
• Find a way to block light in your room (for instance, by draping a dark sheet over the windows).

Week 5: Work Week

So much of the time in our lives is spent working, that even making a small change at work could have a large impact on total well being. Work week is designed to help you reflect on what you’re doing at work and see how you can enjoy it more.

What to do:

1. Jot down all the different things you do at work, and how much you enjoy them each (it may help to do this while working, if you have trouble thinking of all the things you do in a day)
2. Set aside 30 minutes to brainstorm about how to make your job include more of those actions you enjoy, and fewer of those you don’t (schedule the time in your calendar to do this).

Ideas for how you could change what you do at your job

• If you’re quite unhappy with what you spend your time doing at work, consider reading through job postings to see what other possibilities are out there, or start sending your resume around.
• Could you change roles at your current job? See if that’s a possibility.
• Could you have your colleagues do some of the things you don’t like as much, and you take over other responsibilities that you’d like better?
• Can you delegate more of your work than you already do, or say “no” more often?

Week 6: Relationship Week

Romantic relationships are one of the largest drivers of our happiness. Our romantic partners are usually the people we spend the most time with, of anyone in our lives.

What to do:

• If you are not in a relationship (and would like to be), make it a goal to take at least two actions towards meeting more potentially attractive people, or making yourself more attractive. See the ideas below.
• If you are in a relationship, make it a goal to improve your relationship with your partner this week. See the ideas below.

Idea if you are not in a relationship

• Sign up for an online dating website.
• Ask three friends (email them during the week) if they know anyone they think you’d like.
• Join a hobby group or club that you think might have the sort of people you’d be attracted to.
• Ask a friend (or better yet, two) with good fashion taste to go through your wardrobe with you so you can sell or give away the stuff you don’t look good in, or go shopping with this friend for new clothes.

Ideas if you are in a relationship

• Ask your partner what little behaviors you could change that would make them happier.
• Ask your partner which of your clothes they most like and most dislike (and make it a habit of wearing those they like).
• Schedule a romantic trip or event with your partner.
• Surprise your partner this week with something he or she really loves (e.g. a favorite dessert or a gift, or a letter about how much you love them).