Every January, as I reflect on the past year, I inevitably think of a few particular purchases that really changed my lifestyle in a positive way. Here’s the list for 2020.

I really love quality products of any type, and will splurge without hesitation on getting top-quality items. For consumer-grade items, I usually spend a lot of time researching with the aim of finding the best product out there. Usually there are clear market leaders. For more expensive purchases (e.g. buying a car) things become a lot more subjective and it’s not easy to find a clear leader, except for specific niches, like Tesla in the electric car space.

I also tend to buy products that will push me to do something new. I absolutely hate owning products that I don’t use, so I will feel a lot of pressure to make use of something once I acquire it. So if I know my body needs daily massage, but I’ve been procrastinating on it, I’ll go out and buy an expensive Theragun. If I want to explore Barcelona and surroundings by bike, I’ll buy one or more expensive bikes and a nice car. That’s my self-hack that always works.

• Theragun Elite – I’ve long struggled with feeling stiff and tired in the mornings, especially since I am usually training pretty hard during most of the year. And as any sportsman knows, there’s nothing better after an arduous workout than a massage session. Unfortunately, a massage therapist is not always on hand for that. This solves both issues in a convenient package that is easy to travel with and perfect for daily use. I have used it daily and it’s probably my best investment of the year.
• Herman Miller Aeron – There’s not much to say about this chair that hasn’t been said already. It’s the world’s most famous office chair, and most probably the best one. While I still get uncomfortable sitting for long periods, this chair makes it better and I love the mesh material that keeps me cool in summer.
• Brompton Electric – After much dilly-dallying, I finally pulled the trigger on this purchase and it’s been absolutely awesome. I already felt that Barcelona was a big playground that I could run around with my non-electric Bromptons at will, but this took Electric Brompton took things to a different level. I can now go up the mountains around Barcelona with ease as well as go much further to explore other towns in the vicinity. Given the lockdown and restrictions on movement in place, this has been a godsend as it gives me the impetus to go out and spend time in nature.
• Icebreaker clothing – This year I’ve taken a closer look at my wardrobe and decided that I would focus on wearing comfortable, sporty and stylish clothes. The material that fit the best for my active lifestyle is merino wool, which is very breathable and supremely comfortable. Icebreaker is one of the best brands in this space and I’ve stocked up on underwear, t-shirts etc. from this brand. The change from other materials is pretty massive.
• Airpods Pro – These earphones are absolutely top-notch and I carry them everywhere with me. Noise-canceling is excellent as is sound quality. I use them for working in public spaces, at home and while training.
• Balance Surfer – I’ve been slowly assembling a home gym made up of portable exercise material, and this one was one of my latest additions. I love exercising with my son at home and teaching him new tricks, and this has served well. Turns out my biggest use for this, however, is to stand on while I’m working at my standing desk. I usually put on some electronic music mix while working and I naturally start moving about while I type. Being on the balance surfer feels really good and does some help with strengthening my ankles.

I’m not a big fan of the extreme frugality and obsession with saving money that is ubiquitous within the FIRE movement.

My idea, on the other hand, is that you should think about your purchases thoroughly, especially for big expense items, and never buy items you won’t really use. I’m talking about purchases that are the result of wishful thinking or some kind of emotional response.

Some examples:

• Buying an indoor bike for Christmas because you feel like on January 1st you’re going to start a “losing weight” campaign. I’d bet 99% of these bikes and similar devices end up gathering dust in a garage eventually. Better to join a gym or start with doing bodyweight exercises and jump rope and see how that goes before investing further money.
• Another category would be clothing and fashion accessories, especially those items that are very particular and you’ll only end up using them once or twice. Better to rent them or have a plan to sell them immediately after use.

I also see a lot of people making what I call false economies, which brings me to the core of my article today.

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Many conflicts, arguments and disagreements tend to stem from the fact that we assume the offending party set out to harm us in some way. In other words, they have an evil agenda or negative intent.

A better way of moving forward and making progress, be it as a global economy or even in our day-to-day interpersonal relationships, is to always assume positive intent.

In trying times, it is quite easy to fall into a mode of thinking where we look around and think everything is falling apart and nothing makes sense anymore. It might seem that everyone is out to get us and there is little hope.

If we take a step back, however, we can use tools like prayer or meditation to get into an objective state of mind and realize that everyone is acting according to their incentives and circumstances, and by and large, people are wired to be good to others around them, unless they suffer from some psychological problem that makes them act otherwise.

Once we assume positive intent, instead of defaulting to judgment and anger, we take on an inquisitive stance. We ask of the other party: “what are you trying to achieve by this behavior”.

Oftentimes, it’s even better to try to take a minute and take an educated guess on the other person’s needs and objectives. This is because many people don’t even know why they act the way they do. It’s often easier for a third party to understand someone’s behavior, which is why we have counselors, psychologists etc. to help us out.

When we start out from this position together with an inquisitive and non-judgmental attitude, it is guaranteed that we will at least be in a better psychological state ourselves. As a bonus, sometimes we can enter into a productive discussion that ends up changing the other person’s behavior or opinion, although this shouldn’t be our main goal.

When I was a young kid I was brought up to always strive for excellence in academic subjects and in sport, although it applied to most other areas as well.

Perhaps the area in which this strive for excellence had the biggest impact on me is the academic. Education in Malta in my time was very competitive, with exams being a do or die affair that determined whether you would advance to the next year or not.

Failing, especially in the year end exams, was pretty much unacceptable as it would mean a ruined summer studying for the resits in September, potentially losing all friends if you fail to advance to the next year, and feeling like a total failure. Not to mention the scolding to be received from parents and teachers for not trying hard enough.

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For the past twenty years, I’ve been on a journey towards improving my productivity. I’m an ideas guy and it’s very hard for me to stay focused on one thing for long. Adding to that I have a very strong drive to achieve and build things.

Mix those two together and you get an explosive cocktail that leads to depression if you don’t put systems in place. Simply put, with such a personality it is easy for me to overwhelm myself and those around me with projects but then struggle to make progress on all of them. I could also overwork myself to try to keep up with my ideas and wishes.

The right way to do things essentially turns out to be focusing on becoming an essentialist, then setting clear goals and breaking things down into manageable chunks.

In this post, I’d like to share with you some productivity hacks that have helped me throughout the years. Some I continue to use while others have helped me in the past but are no longer useful at this stage of my life, but I’ve included all so you can pick and choose which ones resonate with you.

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