Okay, first off…I can’t believe it’s 2024. I really, truly cannot fathom this. It was literally juuuuust 2022. Who the heck do I talk to about this situation?

This week I’m going to start Highly Regulated’s year off a little differently. In the spirit of everyone looking to improve their lives, stick to resolutions, and do that whole “New Year, New Me” vibe, I’ve spent the past few weeks thinking about 40 changes I have made to my life that have given me outsized returns.

I’ve had multiple careers that have pretty much all required different skills. And that can cause chaos in your life when you’re like me. I have a touch of that ADHD and I am exceedingly hyper. This means I have to do 100x more than a normal person to stay on track to get things done and not fall into the traps that our modern lifestyle throws at us. And honestly, the tips and tricks that work for me may not help you a lick, but some might.

Next week we will be back with regularly scheduled programming starting with a deep dive into how to start investing in art. Enjoy this amuse-bouche and see y’all next week.

40 Changes That Changed My Life

1. There are no notifications on my phone. No more errant dings. No weird messages. My phone is silent 24/7. I was scared at first that every emergency imaginable would happen and I would miss it. Spoiler alert. I haven’t missed anything. I’m still on or looking at my phone enough to catch messages and calls.

2. Putting important dates on the calendar every January 1st. I plan out my year - birthdays, vacations, major events, etc. on the first day of every year. Helps me stay sane when things get chaotic. (I’d include your favorite sports teams’ schedules as well when they get posted. And concerts you might not wanna miss. This has helped me start getting out and going to things a lot more than before.)

3. Audiobooks instead of music on long drives. I started only listening to audiobooks on all drives longer than an hour.

4. Decide to eat a salad a day. Every single morning I tell myself that I want a salad to eat. It’s been a great way to force myself to eat a salad.

5. WATERPROOF ALL YOUR SHOES. It’s easy and you’ll thank me for this tip many times over.

6. When I was at Johns Hopkins I had what can only be described as the absolute best executive assistant ever. She categorized and color-coded events on my calendar and email. This helped me with that to wear on certain days and plan things out better than ever before.

7. No alarm, no problem. I stopped setting an alarm to wake up and just started going to bed earlier. I was waking up with some serious tension and stress from my alarm so in the interest of starting my day off with less stress I put in blackout shades that rise at dawn every morning.

8. I started using an Eisenhauer Matrix for my daily tasks in 2015 and never looked back. I promise doing this will cut down on the noise in your to-do list if you are feeling overwhelmed.

9. Take phone calls while walking. There’s a small park near my house that I pace around for hours on end while I take calls (weather permitting.) I always said I wanted to walk more and be outside more, so during COVID I started this habit and I’ve never felt more energized and calm during calls.

10. Learn to apologize. Turns out “I’m sorry” by itself, is not an apology. Make everyone in your life have a better experience and learn how to do this.

11. Make lunch the largest meal of the day. As a diabetic, this helps my glucose levels throughout the day as well as my sleep. I was having a lot of sweaty nights after late meals so making dinner lighter than lunch has changed that.

12. Don’t stomp or kill bugs just because they’re there. It’s not hard or yucky to move a bug or just walk around it or just ignore its presence.

13. Cry. Really. It’s okay to cry. You don’t need permission to cry and I promise you will feel so much better.

14. Stretch every single morning. I have a yoga mat, towel, and rosewater spray at the bottom of my bed. Every morning I sit down there and do a bunch of stretches because once I felt my flexibility start to decline I knew it was time to take action. Now I get less weird aches and pains and start the day feeling much better physically.

15. Part two of the stretching would also include thai massages in your routines. I get a 90-120 min. thai massage once a month. It is an excellent investment in taking care of your joints, fascia, and muscles.

16. I stopped taking a general multivitamin and asked my physician to do a litany of tests to see what vitamins and minerals I might need to supplement. I also researched and talked to medical professionals about what might improve certain conditions I was worried about.

17. While I’m on it…get an annual well-person exam each year. Go to the doctor as a preventative measure, not just because something is wrong. I promise going to the doctor won’t kill you but letting a condition fester out of control might.

18. This only applies to the ladies…but, go get the right-sized bra. Go get sized and watch your comfort expand.

19. Light candles. Light incense. Make your home smell good. I love the smell of my house and that has helped make me positively start every day.

20. Clean your house before you go on trips. Coming home to a clean house is a gift for your future self.

21. Assume everyone has good intentions. Start coming to every conflict or even discussion with the mindset that everyone has good intentions.

22. I travel a ton and historically it has been a serious issue. I couldn’t sleep on planes so I was a zombie. Now I travel with an eye mask and earplugs. I take a melatonin or two about 30 minutes before boarding. And now I get where I need to go with at least a little nap under my belt.

23. Always buy, and use the warranty. So many warranties cover much more than you think. Get a folder and keep all your warranties there along with phone numbers you need to use them so that you are ready when you need them.

24. If social media makes you feel bad GET OFF OF IT. I deleted Instagram last summer after I realized that I was just constantly comparing myself and my life to others. If social media is causing people to harm themselves I can guarantee it’s not doing shit for you.

25. If you are active on social media…schedule tweets. I write most of my tweets while I’m flying and just schedule them for later dates. Cuts down dramatically with how much I actually engage with social media.

26. Do your own grocery shopping. I stopped using apps and services for grocery shopping and I started spending less money and eating better. Convenience was not helping me live a healthy life so I stopped farming out the basics like grocery shopping. I also pick better produce and save a tooooon of money.

27. “If it’s not a hell yes, it’s a hell no.” I learned this lesson relatively recently and I wish I had learned it yeeeeeeaaaaaars ago.

28. If you travel a lot keep a suitcase stocked with everything you normally travel with so packing becomes less of a chore and you’re less likely to forget things.

29. ALSO, have a zip lock in your purse, backpack, work bag with “in case of emergency” items. I now always have Advil, Dramamine, Benadryl, bandaids, tissues, and hand sanitizer among other things on me. When I feel prepared I worry a lot less about things.

30. Have an email address just for retailers and throw-away accounts. It’s easy to do so I have no idea why I waited until the year of our lord 2023 to do this.

31. I put nightlights in my bathrooms so that I don’t have to turn the lights on when I wake up in the middle of the night. This has finally allowed me to get back to sleep when I have to get up to pee. Hallelujah!

32. Libraries. Libraries. Libraries. I started working from my local libraries. I started checking out virtual periodicals and e-books. Why are people still buying these things when in most cities you can borrow from the comfort of your own home?

33. I used to always try to recreate schedules for myself that other people said worked for them. Don’t do that. You’re wasting your time and will frustrate yourself for no reason. Spend a week tracking how you enjoy working and the cadence you enjoy for your life and plan your days around that.

34. Pets. I got a dog that I have to walk. I have cats that need to be petted. I get exercise and emotional support. Win/Win situation for everyone.

35. Eat Breakfast. I have a lot of prescriptions to take and I used to take them without food and then complain that they didn’t make me feel good. Well, turns out that having a full tummy makes that situation go away so I’m more likely to take my pills daily.

36. Snacks. Each week I put zip-lock bags of emergency snacks in my bags and by my front door so that I always have snacks with me. I used to eat fast food waaaaaay too much because it was convenient while I was out and about. This helped enormously. And sometimes you’re not angry…you’re hangry.

37. Stop people pleasing. I’ll always struggle with this one, but I recently have put a stop to a lot of my people-pleasing actions. I’m a good person, with good intentions. And I will never, ever please everyone. Not everyone will like you. Personality conflicts happen. And that is A OK.

38. I live in a city with multiple modes of public transportation available. If you have a good public transportation system available…USE IT. Driving around, looking. for parking spots, worrying about how safe your car is…all of that causes unnecessary stress to enter your day. Just get on public transport and let someone else drive you around in the empty bus lane.

39. Storage lockers for the stuff that Marie Kondo shouldn’t see. In 2023 I bit the bullet and got a storage locker for my house. I have sooooo much stuff for my small (by San Francisco measurements) space and I was starting to get really claustrophobic. Collecting everything I hadn’t used in the past 6 months and putting it into storage has helped clear my space for activities I do like and has uncluttered my brain a bit.

40. Learn how not to kill yourself while cooking. Take a cooking class and learn how to correctly use knives and kitchen equipment safely. I honestly think the knife skills class I took may be the single best investment in my life. I finally started to cook and now I don’t worry about cutting myself anymore.

And since I’m technically a VC I have to ask…

❤️ How Can I Help?❤️

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XOXO

Stevie