Mood follows behaviour more than the other way round. The fastest levers are outside: light, movement, one real thing done. The slowest leak is the phone.
Start here
A lift
A lift
Green space, weekly
Once a week, somewhere with trees or water, for an hour or more. Walk, fish, bike, sit.
1 hour a weekEvidence: decent
A lift
One creative hour a week
Draw, play, build, cook something new, write. An hour, no goal, nothing to show anyone.
1 hour a weekEvidence: worth trying
A lift
One real win a day
Every day, finish one thing you can point at. A fixed hinge, a sent email, a run. Write it down at night.
no timeEvidence: worth trying
A lift
Put the old thing back in the calendar
Pick one thing you used to enjoy and let drop. Give it a day and a time this week and write it in the calendar.
once a weekEvidence: worth trying
A lift
Rotate your lift, don't repeat it
Flat? Keep three things that reliably work, a walk, a call, a hard session. Take whichever you didn't use last time.
no timeEvidence: worth trying
A lift
Smell things on purpose
Coffee, cut grass, the sea, your kid's hair. Stop for two seconds and notice it.
no timeEvidence: worth trying
A lift
Ten minutes a day, for a week
Set a ten-minute daily limit on your worst app. Keep it for seven days. On day seven, notice how you feel.
10 min a dayEvidence: decent
A lift
Ten minutes outside
Out the door, any direction, normal pace. Nothing in your ears.
10 minEvidence: solid
The feed
The feed
Cut the cheap hits for a week
Pick one. Porn, betting, the feed, the fourth beer. Off for seven days. Notice what you reach for instead.
7 daysEvidence: worth trying
The feed
Deactivate one for a month
The platform you'd miss least: deactivate the account for four weeks. Not delete. Notice what fills the time.
4 weeksEvidence: decent
In your head
In your head
Expect less, enjoy more
Before something you're looking forward to, lower the bar on purpose.
no timeEvidence: worth trying
In your head
Flat can look like anger
Ask someone who sees you most days whether you've been shorter with people lately. Believe the answer.
2 minEvidence: decent
In your head
Name it in one word
When something's got you, say what it is, plainly. "Annoyed." "Embarrassed." "Scared." Out loud or on paper.
no timeEvidence: decent
In your head
Stay two minutes past the urge to leave
When you want out of a hard conversation (change the subject, pick up the phone, walk off), stay two more minutes and keep listening.
2 minEvidence: worth trying
In your head
Test the want, not the like
When you can't be bothered to go, go anyway. Decide whether you like it once you're there, not from the sofa.
no timeEvidence: worth trying
In your head
Two questions, then a doctor
Ask yourself about the last two weeks. Little interest or pleasure in doing things? Feeling down, depressed or hopeless? Yes to either on most days: book a doctor.
2 minEvidence: decent
Guides here
Tools here
Words here
- DopamineNot the pleasure chemical. The wanting chemical. It fires for the chance of something, not the thing.
- RuminationGoing over the same thing again and again without getting anywhere. Feels like thinking. Isn't.
- LanguishingOne researcher's word for the flat middle. Not depressed, not doing well either.