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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Takes 30 seconds. Can save you weeks of arguing.

Too many people think their TV is now scrap because an app on the TV itself became obsolete.

The only thing that might be a bit more cumbersome with a streaming box, might be that the remote cannot control the TV. However, depending on how old your TV is, it may indeed be able to control at least the volume via HDMI, and if it doesn't, well, there are still solutions that cost less than a new TV, and you save yourself the trouble of having to unscrew the original one and do all the setup.

People often call on WhatsApp for first time as it doesn't have by default recording feature nor it appears on official call record so they can speak anything or discuss anything.

When someone calls you on WhatsApp to discuss something, you need to cut the call saying "Internet is bad here, let me re-try calling" & call them on Normal Call & record it

It's non-invasive conversational small-talk. It gets the other person to talk, and people love to talk!

I had a string of birthdays memorized in my head from March 2 to March 12 of various people I'd known or worked with or met at the bus stop. Also a 5-day string in April.

Maybe people I chatted with thought I was a weirdo, but unlike PokeMon, you CAN collect them all!

Also middle names. If I meet someone with the same first name as me, I try to steer the conversation to ask them their middle name and why. Very interesting stories!

Also if I meet someone with the same first name as my sibling, I steer the conversation to find out their middle name and why.

If you listen to their stories, you will have learned about life from a life outside of your own, without being invasive.

And most people are happy to help you add to your collection and add to your strings of birthdays, and most will be happy to talk about middle names and how much they hate/love their first or middle name.

BTW, most people I've met whose first name is GodsCasino, have a middle name of Louise or May.

I'm in Canada so this trick may not be applicable worldwide.

Landlords can and do blame move-out damage on you that was already there when you moved in, especially small stuff like scuffs or stains they conveniently "forgot" about. Having dated photos as proof makes it way harder for them to argue about it later.

Emailing them to yourself (instead of just leaving them in your phone's camera roll) gives you a timestamp that's harder to dispute than just a photo's metadata, and it means you still have them even if you lose your phone or switch devices before your deposit gets sorted out.

Only takes like 15 minutes and it's saved me from losing part of a deposit before.

Check your pet’s microchip! It’s so frustrating the amount of missing pets brought in to shelters that have a microchip that either isn’t registered or the information is outdated.

MOST PET OWNERS DON’T UNDERSTAND: Just because your pet is microchipped, doesn’t mean it’s registered correctly. If it’s not registered or the information is outdated, there is no way to contact you!

To cover the basics:

-A microchip is just a number that has to be registered for it to be linked to your contact information. The microchip only stores a number, nothing else. The registry stores your contact information associated to the chip number.

-Microchips CANNOT track your pet with GPS. The chip only works when someone physically scans your pet with a special microchip scanner.

-Many shelters are only required to hold a stray pet without a chip for about 48 hours and around 5 days if they have one. After that they are legally allowed to find the pet a new home.

-Microchips can migrate from where they were placed, so it’s important to have your vet scan for it annually.

What we typically see:

-Pets are adopted or purchased already microchipped but it’s not communicated the chip needs to be registersd or transferred to their name.

-They changed their number or email and never updated their info with their registry.

-They didn’t microchip their pets because they are “indoor only”. Indoor pets get out. It happens way more than people think.

-Their registry went out of business or changed ownership and they never checked.

It takes a minute to check your pet!

IF YOU KNOW WHERE THEY ARE REGISTERED: log in to your registry and confirm your information is correct. Or call them.

IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE THEY ARE REGISTERED: there is a free tool that shelters and vets use called the AAHA Microchip Lookup which searches a microchip number across all registries at once to tell which it’s registered to. Search AAHA microchip lookup on Google, and search your pets chip number. It will show you if/where it’s registered. Then log in to your registry to confirm your information is correct.

IF YOU DON’T KNOW THEIR CHIP NUMBER: you can typically find it on your adoption paperwork or at the top of any forms from your vet. Your vet or any vet can also scan for the chip number for free if you ask. Save the number to your phone in your notes or as a contact so you always have it.

IF THEY ARE NOT REGISTERED: make sure you do it. The AAHA lookup tool lists all of their partner registries on their site so choose one of those. Our shelter registers with Pawbase and PetLink, but any of the AAHA partners are a reliable place to register your pet and show up when searched. Some may try to sell you subscriptions which aren’t necessary.

If your pet is chipped, please take a few minutes to check where it’s registered, make sure your contact info is updated, and add a backup contact if you can. If your pet isn’t chipped, please do it.

Checking not only helps you and your pet but it also helps the shelters that are already stretched thin on resources!

If your luggage gets lost, a bottle breaks, or you run out early, most people can't recall the exact medication name, dosage, or prescription number from memory. That makes getting an emergency refill slow and stressful, especially in an unfamiliar place.

Before a trip, snap a clear photo of each bottle's label and save it somewhere easy to find on your phone. Pharmacies and doctors can verify and refill much faster with this info on hand, and it also helps if security or customs asks you to explain a medication.

Takes under a minute and can save you a real headache later.

It's worthwhile to run the numbers, at least time-to-time. I can't count how many times I've reached for the 'family size' or 'bulk' or 'mega-pak' option, hesitated because something felt off, and then realized the small/normal sized option was cheaper. Sometimes considerably cheaper.

When opening packages, for example a tea bag package or chip bag, don’t completely tear off the tear-off strip. Leave it attached so that you don’t have an extra piece of trash floating around.

I discovered this accidentally last night, and I thought it was neat.

After reflecting on a 20 year career that constantly shit on my Anniversary it literally just hit me why that happened. The Fiscal Year starts October 1st. That means everyone suddenly has money to spend and all the things get done. I was constantly TDY or in the field for our anniversary…

If you get married while in (or before and plan on going in) aim for August/September. Pretty consistent free time or at least only absolutely mission critical functions are happening.

Edit: we were late October so all the LOAs had dropped at that point.

Edit2: not sure how to pin a comment, but [u/justhereforgoodfun](u/justhereforgoodfun) put it well:

“The better LPT is to plan your anniversary with the end in mind. Don’t get married on a holiday weekend. You might think it’s a good idea to have long weekends, but so does everyone else in the nation. Good luck finding that hotel, camping spot, reservation, etc. when everyone else is doing the same.

If you’re an accountant or work in finance, maybe don’t get married during tax season. Just consider those kind of things”

Can you help me grab some ice?

Can you come help me with this for a second?

Now you can talk away from everyone without announcing to the whole room that a mysterious private meeting is happening.

Nothing makes people more curious than can I talk to you privately?

When it comes time for annual performance reviews, promotion requests, or updating your resume, most people struggle to remember what they did three months ago, let alone a year ago.

Keep a running document (a "brag sheet") and bullet point 2 or 3 things you finished, problems you solved, or positive feedback you received each week. When review season comes or you apply for a new job, you’ll have an exact, quantified list of your impact ready to go without stressing.

If you’re replacing your ring doorbell battery and the battery case is stiff, try pushing the case upwards from the bottom rather than squeezing the case from the left and right sides.

I used to think you had to convert the PDF to a word document first, sign your name on the word doc then convert the signed word doc back to a PDF, but you can sign the PDF directly if you open the PDF in chrome and click on the squiggle icon

Under current USDA regulations, plumped chicken may still carry an “All-Natural” or “100% Natural” label. This is why it's important to check the ingredient list.

Source

I started doing this thing a few months back that have helped slow down rumination and negative thoughts.

Put a note widget on your phone somewhere and whenever you have a negative thought, open it and write it down, but do nothing with it. Doesn’t matter the thought. You aren’t writing it down to rationalise it you are simply putting it from your mind onto your phone.

It does two things. Firstly half the battle in rumination is recognising you are ruminating and separating your self from your thoughts. So when you recognise, I am having the thought that Susan thinks I’m a dork, you write it down instead of getting attached to, well.. I think Susan may actually think I’m a dork.

Secondly I find when I’m ruminating my head is full of noisy thoughts that feels like a mess. Writing it down untangles it and you actually get to acknowledge each and every thought you are ruminating on. When you do this you actually realise there’s a lot less going on up there than what it feels like.

Takes practice at first because you have to start noticing the thoughts instead of being attached to them but after a while it becomes automatic and I find it helps. Hope it can help other people.