PSA: You’re Doing These Tasks In The Wrong Order

If you add the attachment after composing the email, you need to reassess the natural order of things. Same thing if you wash your body first and put in the conditioner second.

Here are a bunch of other things you’re probably wrong in the wrong order without realising.

“What is a ‘lifehack’ that doesn’t require you to do anything new, just change the order in which you are already doing something?

Thus spoke Reddit user DetroitHustlesHarder. Redditors answered with loads of good time management advice that doesn’t require additional work, just the same work in a better order. All you need to make these hacks work is some control over your schedule, and some self-control.

Here are some of our favourites :

• “Add the attachment to an email first,” says LionelHutz4. Then you can’t forget to attach it.

• Redditor -Axon- adds: Don’t fill out the “To:” line until after you write the email, so you can’t accidentally send it too soon.

• Get out all your ingredients before you start cooking, says katchibeauty, and clean up as you go (like immediately rinsing pots before bits of food can harden).

• And shuck your corn after you cook it, says Terdmuffin.

• “Fill your mouth with water before popping the pill in,” says jumpsteadeh. “That way there’s no semi-dry surface for the pill to stick to.”

• “Do your laundry before any other chore,” says Marcusaralius76. “While the machine is running, you’re technically doing multiple chores at once.”

• “Thoroughly clean your home before leaving for vacation,” says PhoneSteveGaveToTony.

• And clean on Friday nights instead of Sunday nights, says user sequoiastar. The sooner you do your weekend chores, the less you get the Sunday sads.

• Eat before you go grocery shopping, says (sorry) PM_UR_NUDES_4_RATING. Of course, that’s when you’re out of food, but at least buy a candy bar.

• In the shower, put in your conditioner before you wash your body, and rinse it out after, says NoLifeKing_RL.

• Eat the frog, says Section37: Do the most unpleasant task early in the day, and the rest of the day will feel easier. Plus you won’t have that dread hanging over you.

• Or, like RandomlyMethodical suggests, do a small chore right when you get up, to get some momentum and “roll into the rest of your day with a ‘Get Shit Done’ attitude.”

• Make your coffee the night before, says BeholderLivesMatter. We agree from personal experience: Put in the grounds and water during your nighttime routine, then set a timer, or turn your machine on the next morning before you step into the shower. You’ll feel a wave of relief that you don’t have to fuck around with the scoop and the faucet before you’ve had your coffee.

• Or if you’re more of a cocoa kidl: Don’t dump all the powder in first, or all the milk. Start with a little milk, then some powder, then some milk, and so on.