People Who Make Life Look Easier Than It Is Usually Rely On These 9 Cheat Codes
lucaspezeta | PexelsYears of sharing this planet with everyone else can teach important lessons about how you carry yourself and the way others perceive you. Not all human behavior makes sense, but certain habits will draw people to you and cause them to begin to see you in a new, positive light. Society wants you to be weak, depressed, submissive, and docile. Stop whining and go against the grain. Follow these cheat codes, and watch life become — poof! — magically easier.
People who make life look easy know these cheat codes:
1. They adopt a leadership persona
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Get up, get dressed, and do something to make someone else feel better, even if you feel unmotivated to do it. It’s a habit. Everything changes when you adopt the persona of a leader. Fake it 'til you make it, baby. It's all about giving off the assertive aura of a leader (not the cult-y kind) — faking confidence often leads to real confidence.
“In a perfect, or at least more rational, world, the most qualified people would rise fastest,” Drake Baer, author of the organizational psychology book Everything Connects, writes. “But new research suggests that just appearing to be competent is as important as getting ahead."
2. They slow down and simplify
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Slow your physical movements and speak more slowly. When you rapidly talk like your time costs money, it creates frantic energy in the room. You make life easier for yourself when you create space to see what most miss. Slowing down (speech, movement, response time) simplifies. So does cutting the extraneous fat from a complicated life schedule. You’re not a circus monkey. Focus on the essential handful of things that energize you and ditch the rest.
3. People like this set strong boundaries
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Stop doing things to please others. You come first, even if it inconveniences others. This does not mean to never make concessions or compromises; it's more about not bending over backward at the expense of yourself. When you're in a good place mentally, you’re in the best position to give.
Set boundaries so that your energy is conserved before any sniveling energy-sapper tries to cut into yours. According to a 2014 Columbia University study, to make better decisions, the human brain needs 50 to 100 milliseconds to focus on relevant information and block out all distractions. This is especially true for people-pleasers since it can be an automatic reaction to say yes to all their requests.
4. People who make life look easy don't forget to touch grass
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Be like the dude from Gladiator and regularly touch leaves. No, but seriously, legendary naturalist John Muir understood the spiritual and enlivening significance of walks in nature when he said, “The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” Walk for 30 minutes each day, and do it not only to infuse life into that human meat suit you drag around, but to open up to spiritual beauty and awareness as a practice.
In his writings, Muir often spoke of the transformative power of beauty, particularly the untouched beauty of the wilderness. He saw beauty as a force that could change us, a direct manifestation of the divine. If we could view the forest from a high vantage point, our first impression would be one of awe; approach life the same way.
5. They take one tiny step in the right direction
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Identify right now one thing you keep doing that is seriously messing up your life. Now figure out what one little thing you can do to move you in the right direction. If you watch way too many mindless Instagram reels before bed at night and it's making it hard to get up on time, cut down your scroll time by 10 minutes. Tomorrow, try fifteen minutes. You become what you repeatedly do. Stop molding yourself into a mindless blob, be healthier, and become obsessed with greatness.
6. They don't dismiss mindfulness as 'woo-woo'
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The greatest obstacle for many of us is how twitchy and weird we’re becoming because of how phones train us to react to notifications. Go the other way via mindfulness. I start every day with 8 minutes of meditation. This will calm your mind and multiply your intelligence. Just the shortest of sessions can center your fake dopamine-addled brain.
7. People with easier lives choose not to whine
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Every time I find myself feeling sorry for myself, I remind myself of one of the most powerful tools in my arsenal: if I accept the false perception that I’m a little weakling and start whining about it, I will feel worse. Change this thought process immediately. Instead, be ruthlessly intolerant of sad and unhelpful thoughts. They will come up, begging for sympathy, but they will be ignored by you time and time again. You are your thoughts; make them good ones.
8. They stay on top of basic hygiene
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Surface-level stuff like getting a haircut, wearing good shoes, trimming your nails, and staying fresh and clean is foundational. Mental health doesn’t end with staying on top of basic hygiene; it's where it begins. Look great, not for cutiepie Sally at the cafe, but for your devastatingly handsome self.
9. They pay attention to their posture
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Be conscious of how your posture determines your vibe. It’s not the other way around. Walk like a scaredy-cat, and your reality will align by delivering you pain and rejection like it’s Uber Eats. Act like a person on a mission, and the mission will come to you. Walk tall, sit up straight, speak up, and inspire those around you with your bold energy. They will take notice. Through these cheat codes, you make life look a heck of a lot easier than it really is — and eventually ease will become the life standard.
Alex Mathers is a writer and coach who helps you build a money-making personal brand with your knowledge and skills while staying mentally resilient. He's the author of the Mastery Den newsletter, which helps people triple their productivity.
