Behaviors

Do rolling, self-massage, or soft tissue work in the 10 minutes before bed to improve adherence and help the brain shift toward sleep.

In a very hot sauna, breathe slowly through the nose for 10 to 15 minutes to train calm under stress.

Use changes in heat tolerance and cold tolerance as indicators of stress and recovery state.

If readiness markers are poor, make it a 70% day in the gym rather than taking a full day off.

As part of a physical practice, walk throughout the day and try not to sit in one place for a long period of time.

For athletes needing more calories, putting food on a table with a tablecloth may increase intake.

Avoid starting body recomposition plans with fasting or brutal calorie restriction.

Regular physical activity habit done when weather allows.

Avoid turning enjoyable exercise into an extrinsically rewarded activity by logging it in a phone app or over-focusing on watch/Fitbit metrics.

Brief conversations with strangers increase positive emotion, reduce loneliness, and improve the sense that life is going better; applies to introverts and extroverts.

See real faces at least once a day, not just faces on a screen.

Prefer live, synchronous interaction over asynchronous communication; if not in person, use video when possible, and phone calls can also be highly emotionally connective.

Texting is described as a weaker substitute for social connection; schedule real-time interaction and call friends you have not talked to recently.

Try increasing real-time social connection and notice immediately afterward how it made you feel to update your prediction about socializing.

Scrolling faces and DMs can create the illusion of connection without delivering real social nourishment.

Start small rather than jumping into huge parties; one-on-one formats like a coffee date may create less social anxiety, and introverts should balance social interaction with alone time.

Use small interactions to refill the 'leaky tire' of happiness; if not feeling happy, add one more interaction than your current baseline and monitor how it feels over time.

Use sensory attention to become embodied and present: notice what you see, hear, and how your breath changes.

Can be useful when it fills the head enough to reduce rumination without impairing presence in the physical task; avoid using audio in situations where full sensory presence matters, such as art engagement or ballroom dancing.

Repeatedly noticing and recording delights shifts attention away from hassles and toward positive emotion.

Treat negative emotions as information: loneliness may mean you need more social connection, and overwhelm may mean you need to take something off your plate before burnout or illness.

Negative emotions are useful signals; suppressing them gives up important information.

Provides exercise and social interaction; especially useful for people who otherwise would not exercise.

Meta-analyses were cited as showing that 30 minutes of cardio exercise per day can be as effective as antidepressant medication for reducing symptoms of depression.

Interacting physically with pets can create sensory presence.

Put a future 1-hour block on your calendar and do not schedule anything in it to create time affluence.

Stoic practice of imagining losing valued things to break hedonic adaptation and increase appreciation; examples included imagining losing success, being exiled, losing a partner, losing health, or not being able to walk. Use imagination to appreciate what you have, especially for things you cannot literally space out.

Deeply imagining the rewards of a future goal can reduce motivation to do the work.

Instead of fantasizing about the reward, vividly imagine the obstacles and plan solutions in advance; example given was preparing running clothes or a warm hat the night before.

Recognizing that good moments are temporary can increase appreciation and savoring; use finitude as a cue to pay attention now.