What are some high-leverage activities for everyday life?

My high-leverage activities are not necessarily going to be your high-leverage activities but I hope these help: Exercise 7 minute workout or barbell exercises. The 7-minute workout at home.  Squats, bench, deadlifts at the gym.  This is the best way to get a serious workout while not spending very much time at the gym or at home.  Warmup before doing squats please (your cartilage will thank you). Attracting Women Shoes and posture For attracting and meeting women, shoes and posture seem to have the most leverage.  I don't follow the shoe advice myself but I've heard amazing things. Good looking stylish shoes seem to be a kryptonite for many women. Having great posture makes you seem (and feel) more confident. Sure, there are many other things that have an impact but these seem to have the most leverage. Meditation and gratitude 10-15 minutes of either being still and being with your breathe.  Or 5-10 minutes of naming all the amazing things you're grateful for. Or just start with 5 minutes of doing nothing (while not thinking about past or future). These are huge.  For me, they get me out of my sometimes narcissistic neurotic thought patterns and into a calm, loving, grateful, and open state of mind.  This positive state of mind affects everything else in my life. I just did a session on my roof and I practically went from "What the hell is going on with my career and lack of sex life?!" to "I need to contribute something helpful and beautiful to this amazing world." Meditation is much simpler and easier to start than it seems.  This TED talk is a great intro: https://www.ted.com/talks/andy_puddicombe_all_it_takes_is_10_mindful_minutes Pomodoro Timer You set a timer and only work on that task (with no distractions) for 25 minutes. Then you take a short break.  You aim for a number of 25 minute work sessions per day.  Then you stop working. By doing this, I'm at the computer for fewer hours but I get more done. Nature Time in natural settings really helps me recharge.  Even if it's just a park.  A weekend campout with a fire is better. The research is still a bit early but there's a number of studies trying to figure out why nature seems to help our minds. http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/03/how-nature-resets-our-minds-and-bodies/274455/ Pocket App If you are addicted to articles, this one is helpful.  It helps me save articles that I might want to read later.  I say "might" because I find seeing my list of articles on Pocket helps me better choose what to read vs. what to delete.  I read fewer articles but tend to read the more valuable ones. Ride your bike to work I'm convinced this gets both your brain and body going better in the morning. You spend less on transportation and less time at the gym.  You can also leave your house much later (compared to bussing or finding parking). Wear a ton of lights and bright clothing to be visible. If I hadn't had a helmet on one night in November 2011, I'd certainly be dead.  My head would have been cracked open on some random Noe Valley, San Francisco street. But that one's up to you. Hope these give you a ton of bang for your buck. Really excellent article on thinking about leverage: http://ayearofproductivity.com/how-to-determine-highest-leverage-activities-work/

Start a family. The love and affection and good times you create are 1,000 times more valuable than anything else you could be doing with your time.

Read a self help book. It might sound like garbage but it opens you to different kind of thinking with new tools. Read 101 themed books like for example "coding for dummies" or "how to write a book for dummies" to experience the world through new thinking ports and understand what happens behind the scenes. Learn to teach something new everyday. Learn to be mentally conscious of your thoughts and choices. Learn to look, listen, and sniff as much as you can instead of see, hear and smell which we always do.

Get a certification or two in your career field. This can increase your salary far greater than the cost you pay to get certified.   Examples: Someone whose job role is Project Management getting the PMP certification   Someone whose job role is network administration getting the MCITP: Enterprise certification or CISCO CCNA Certification

Enhancing your productivity is probably the best thing you can do for yourself. Getting work done in less time means having more time left for private activities. Here are a few tips how to enhance your productivity: One place for all notes: Many people write little reminder notes and spread them all over their apartment or work place. Others use dozens of different software applications without syncing and often simply reproduce information. These systems have a high risk of losing stuff and it doesn't offer you an overview on how much you have on your plate. Use one single location to write down all notes, birthdays, events etc. Prioritize: Add priorities to your task list items and complete the ones with  the highest priority first. Create organizational patterns: Give it some thought and come up with a particular pattern covering all important factors of a task and perform the same steps every time you add an event to your task list. Use technology to your advantage:  Using apps to enhance your productivity is a great idea. But use them right. Enter event information into the appropriate fields in your calendar, for instance put a location into the "Where" field, so that applications supporting an integration can use this information to give you directions.