3 Things That Are Just Not Worth the Effort

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Image via GQ.

I have repeatedly tried all three of these:

  • Day trading. It’s like sitting in a burning house, waiting for the fire to put itself out. Your mind will refuse to think about anything else all day, hoping you’ll scrape together those few extra %. Just make solid long-term picks and forget about them.
  • Online dating. You need a clever profile, a ton of swipes, a clever opening line and tell the same story 75 times. That’s a lot of work only to find out they’re boring in real life. Just live your life and keep your eyes open so you’ll actually see whoever comes along.
  • Calorie counting. You’ll either feel bad about your food or yourself. You won’t be present while you eat, thinking about all the data. Eating is meant to be recovery, not more work. Just try not to eat too many sweets and move a lot.

Occasionally, I get caught in a new wave of false enthusiasm, because I was bored or read an article and inevitably think “let’s give this another try.”

It always ends with the same question:

Why did I think it’d work this time again?

Nik

Niklas Göke writes for dreamers, doers, and unbroken optimists. A self-taught writer with more than a decade of experience, Nik has published over 2,000 articles. His work has attracted tens of millions of readers and been featured in places like Business Insider, CNBC, Lifehacker, and many others. Nik has self-published 2 books thus far, most recently 2-Minute Pep Talks. Outside of his day job and daily blog, Nik loves reading, video games, and pizza, which he eats plenty a slice of in Munich, Germany, where he resides.