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Our culture is quite obsessed with personal improvement. Healthy lifestyle, good performance at work, being the perfect parents – people strive to be better than the generations that came before them in almost every regard. Adopting life hacks is a popular way to improve one's life, or at least to give the illusion of improvement.
Lately, people have grown quite disillusioned with life hacks. What's more, they have even begun thinking that some life hacks may do more harm than good. In one online thread, a person asked: "What's a 'life hack' that actually made your life worse?" It turns out that turning your hobbies into side hustles or waking up at 5 AM is maybe not all that it's cracked up to be.
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#1
Find meaning in life. It's such a heavy burden. You can be happy and at the same time consider life meaningless.
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#2
Anything that conflicts with my ADHD-wired brain. "Try using a planner!" "Set alarms on your phone!" "Get up early in the morning to start your day!"
I either forget about the planner or spend too much time planning stuff, and the stuff stresses me into inactivity. Too many alarms and I'm stressed into inactivity. I'm not tired until 4am no matter what i do during the day, and you want me to wake up early? All of these served only to make me unhappy and stressed.
#3
Trying to wake up at like 5am just because “successful people do it” messed me up more than it helped, I was just tired all day and less productive. Turns out getting enough sleep at a normal time works way better than forcing some random routine.
Healthy-Order8017:
Tried “waking up at 5 AM for productivity” and now I’m just tired and unproductive, like a premium‑tier zombie.
fan_ling:
"Wake up at 5am and you'll be more productive."
I tried this for three months. What actually happened: I woke up at 5am, was a zombie until 9am, did the same amount of work I normally do, but now I was also exhausted by 3pm and useless for the entire evening.
Net result: same productivity, minus a social life, plus an expensive coffee habit.
The real hack was figuring out when I'm actually sharp (turns out it's 10pm-1am for me) and structuring my day around that instead of copying some CEO's morning routine that was designed for someone with a personal chef and no commute.
#5
Trying to “optimize” every hour of my day.
Turned life into a checklist instead of actually living it and just burned me out faster.
#6
Turning hobbies into ‘side hustles.’ Nothing [ends] joy faster than putting a price tag on it.
Weird_Night_2176:
Getting excited about something I engineer, create, or build and then immediately trying to figure out the path to making it a business.
2 examples, home brewing and Jetson dev kit projects.
The joy gets lost quickly!
#7
Tracking every single expense. Started with a budgeting app that categorized everything and set up alerts. Within a month I was so anxious about every purchase that I stopped buying things I actually needed. A $4 coffee would ruin my mood because the app would flag it as "unnecessary spending." Eventually deleted it and just set up auto transfers to savings instead. Way less stressful and I actually save more now.
#8
People have taken "protecting my peace" way too far. Losing friends because you can't step out of your comfort zone a could nights a month isn't a flex or a win.
#9
Meal prepping every single thing for the week. Turned my Sundays into this massive cooking marathon where I'd batch cook everything, portion it out, and stack containers everywhere. Thought I was being super efficient but ended up eating the same bland chicken and rice combo for days while watching half of it go bad because I got sick of it by Wednesday. Now I just prep ingredients and cook fresh - way less stressful and the food actually tastes good.
jollyrojak:
Saw a tiktok that said you should meal prep everything on sunday to save time during the week. bro i spent 6 hours cooking, ate all of it by monday night because it was right there in the fridge staring at me, then ordered grab for the rest of the week anyway lol. net result: more time wasted AND fatter.
#11
Started "cold showering for discipline" last winter. Didn't build discipline. Built resentment toward my bathroom, my alarm clock, and the concept of morning. Quit after 11 days. Now I flinch when I hear running water.
#12
The ‘just be positive’ mindset.
I kept ignoring real problems thinking everything will fix itself if I stay positive… but it just made things worse.
Took me a while to realize some problems need action, not just mindset.
#13
Started reading a hyper-frugality blog. Added too many fake rules to my life to try to live more efficiently, it contributed* to my huge burnout because I couldn't keep up with it, had to quit my job and get tons of therapy (expensive).
*it wasn't the only contributor, calm down.
#14
Tracking apps make me miserable. Life is not about being the most efficient version of yourself, it's more than 1s and 0s. The constant reminder of not being perfect and needing to improve is depressing. The alerts and reminders pestering me about everything. It's like a critical parent or partner constantly wishing you were more than you are. There is such a thing as too much information.
#16
Had a finance teacher that said we should call our phone company and threaten to cancel unless we get a discount. My classmate said he tried it and the woman on the other end cancelled it without any pushback.
#17
Becoming the kind of person who’s “easy to deal with.”
Turns out a lot of that was just me ignoring my own needs so I could be more convenient for everyone else.
#18
I began cycling to and from work.
I lived 600 m above work.
I was filled with rage cycling home after work. I had muscle tightness all over. It was miserable.
I began resenting cycling.
I'm happy for people who happily cycle to work, but it didn't work for me.
#20
My ex-spouse trying to be a "boss babe" through MLM. Worst financial disaster of our lives that I'm still paying off.
#21
Becoming the DIY guy so I can relatively solve and fix problems more efficiently. Some projects aren't worth the DIY and too many people will demand your time for free.
#22
Making to-do lists and arranging everything i wanted to get done in a day and when. In reality, it's impossible to quantify exactly how long something is gonna take. You end up spending more time planning less time doing. Just another form of procrastination.
#23
Not a life hack, but there's a saying in my native language, which translates to "either good or nothing", meaning that if you can't do something well, you'd better not start at all. There's no other single phrase that [messed] me up harder than that one.
PSA: ANYTHING is better than nothing*. Without trying you can never get better. Failing is a natural and healthy part of the process. Nobody is good at anything without trying and being bad at first.
*in terms of creative activities of any sort.
#25
Plenty of strenuous exercise to help me sleep better and feel more energetic.
It turned out I have ME/CFS which means exercise makes my body sick and more "wired" and less able to sleep restfully.
Which is a shame because the endorphins were great...
#26
Not caring about money. I tried to live like a zen monk with no desire for wealth but it turns out money is pretty important.
#27
Not exactly worse, but the instant accessibility to things that I THINK I need vs actually needing or wanting. Ie- getting anything and everything delivered.
I had to set up some rules first myself to force me to sit on these ideas for a few days vs just hitting “buy now.”
#28
Trying to SAY YES to everything...
At first it feels like you’re maximizing opportunities. In reality, you spread yourself too thin, lose focus, and end up doing a lot of things half well instead of a few things really well.
#29
When I was a teenager the whole "if you wanna be cool you gotta act like you don't care about anything, that will make girls like you!".
#30
I know a guy who consumes every bit of self help and pseudo-scientific philosophical media available, and frankly I think he’d be better off having consumed none of it.
I don’t know if he genuinely enjoys it or if he just likes posturing as some sort of intellectual, but I’m not convinced he has an original thought in his body because of how much media he’s consumed and assimilated into his personality.
#31
Supplements. I thought it would make me healthy if I took certain stacks of supplements. Had to go to the ER when my organs started shutting down.
Talk to your doctor before taking any supplements.
#34
Trying to multitask. I thought I’d get more done, but I just ended up doing everything worse.
#36
Smart home stuff.
Now I’ve got WiFi enabled [stuff] I don’t use that I spent too much money on.
#37
Relying on an app for pull reminders instead of alarms, ended up skipping more than I realised, the notifications would come through without me noticing and there was no secondary reminder if I didn't tap to say I took them, took me about two weeks to go back to regular alarms but then again I should have listened to the advice of if it ain't broke don't fix it.
#38
Putting my money into a savings account instead of investing in property, once I remedied this i wish id started 30 years earlier.
#39
Tracking my screen time. Now instead of mindlessly scrolling and feeling fine about it I mindlessly scroll and feel guilty about it. Added a whole new layer of stress to the exact same behavior.
#41
That you should only approach things after fully preparing for the task. I was told this by *so many people* growing up, how it helped them to be more successful by not flinging themselves into a situation unprepared. A basic level of prep gets me going 10x faster than having to stop and think about every little thing I could possibly need. I don't set out all of my needed bowls/plates/utensils/ingredients while cooking, I set up for the first couple of steps and allow it to flow. I don't work in absolute preparedness. The juices stop flowing by that point.
#42
The ability to understand the internet at a very young age. I got exposed to too many nasty things.
#43
"Smile or laugh during social interactions."
Yeah, just be fake and make people think you lack a sense of humor.
#44
ChatGPT responding to difficult texts. Always bites me [back] after convincing me it comes off as “high value without sounding arrogant.” For instance, when my sister tried setting me up with an unaligned man and Chat ended up insulting her husband… fabulous.
Always trust your humanity and nuance.
#45
Shortcutting laundry washing everything in cold water. Trying DIY on white socks and they turned grey permanently.
#46
Tried the "no phone in the bedroom" thing. Now I wake up at 3am with no way to check the time and just lie there trying to guess if it's been 10 minutes or 3 hours.
#48
“Getting 8 hours of sleep a night” leaves me less time to get [things] done sometimes. And I’m still left just as tired as if I only got 6.
I find if I push through the drowsy fog rather than spite-sleeping, my future self ends up better for it.
#49
"Clean as you cook."
Cue setting off the fire alarm because my time blindness can't tell how long it takes for me to do a task and 2 minutes, 5 minutes, and 10 minutes all feel the same to me.
#50
I tried strength training to lose weight.
Now I've been dealing with rotator cuff tendinopathy for like 5 months... and have since gained weight.
#51
Dried my clothes on the high setting in the dryer. My gloves only fit people with tiny fingies now.
#52
It was suggested that I download that Finch app to help with self-care and not feeling so overwhelmed and scattered. It ended up making my anxiety so much worse because if I didn't do a task I was now making a stupid cartoon bird sad. It also did nothing with helping me prioritize rest. I would get home from work and not sit down until I had completed most of the afternoon/evening tasks I had set for myself because I felt I needed to do those before resting. It also increased time spent on my phone by a lot, and I felt guilty if I didn't visit my "friends" on the app.
It may work great for others, but that app just was a terrible experience for me.
#54
Opening a new credit card with 0% APR in first year to transfer other debt to. With the fee to transfer, hard inquiry for credit check, and the new card lowering my credit age- it was a stupid decision. Shouldn’t have followed some [nonsense] social media advice.
#55
Taking everything easy.
It makes you weak and silly when you avoid analyzing your problems and the reasons why did some things happen.
#56
For me it's the advice "If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all". It's honestly mixed for me because I *never* have anything good to say so all it does is it makes me into this very quiet person.
#57
Taking deep breathes whenever you are anxious, never worked for me, made my anxiety even worse.
#58
There was this “hack” about cutting your hair super often to make it grow faster. so me being ambitious went all in… and ended up with a total uneven mess that took MONTHS to fix.
like instead of feeling cute & refreshed I was just… frustrated every time I looked in the mirror. some hacks just sound cute on paper but in real life? total chaos.
#61
Turning notifications off for ‘peace’ and then developing anxiety checking my phone every 5 minutes anyway.
#62
Using multiple alarms to wake up. Instead of helping, I just feel groggier and more anxious.
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