There’s a lot of noise in our lives right now.
We’re constantly being bombarded with content. And much of it is conflicting and confusing: Use these 10 ChatGPT prompts to organize your life—but also keep in mind everyone’s over AI slop. Steal these 15 simple hacks to have the most productive day of your life—but also, here’s why you should reject toxic productivity. Speed up, but make sure you slow down. Go, but also stop.
It’s dizzying. The antidote to this inundation isn’t more advice. It’s quiet. Take a break from constant input and return to yourself—your intuition, your inner world, your moral compass. Hush the noise around you to hear what you actually think.
Your first task: Calm your nervous system. Drop and relax your shoulders. Unclench your jaw. Slow your breathing. Name three things you see, hear, and feel. Then, put your phone on silent.
Recreate this Mood Board for yourself:
- Make a butterfly letter for a long-distance friend
- Pick a fall color theme: apple orchard, wool jacket, library returns…
- Try these hacks when you feel anxious at night
- Be quiet enough to hear your inner voice
- Listen to autumn’s rain and crackling fires
- Find the pleasure in keeping secrets
- Fill your cup with vanilla honey chamomile tea
- Create an elemental creativity practice to get unstuck
- Breathe through a 15-minute somatic reset
Life, unplugged
👁️ Practice the art of noticing
Our phones are very good at telling us what to look at. Today, skip the digital input and let the world around you decide instead. Head somewhere with life: your neighborhood park, a coffee shop, a bench on a busy block. Bring a notebook and something to write with, then:
1. Pick your spot. Find somewhere you can comfortably sit and observe for 10 minutes. It doesn't need to be beautiful or particularly interesting.
2. Unplug. Put your phone away. No music, podcasts, scrolling, or texting. For the next 10 minutes, you're not consuming anything.
3. Become an observer. Let your attention wander. Notice someone's bright red shoes, a dog tugging at its leash, a cyclist ringing their bell, or a conversation drifting over from another table.
4. Don't feel pressured to make anything. Notice what’s happening around you without needing to respond to it. If you like, you can document what catches your attention: sketch how the breeze feels, jot down snippets of an overheard conversation, or describe someone’s outfit.
Ask yourself: When I’m not being told what to look at, what do I notice?
Familiar comforts
😴 Write your own bedtime story
Your brain is used to being entertained right up until the moment you fall asleep. Tonight, instead of feeding it another TikTok or TV episode, make up a bedtime story to lull you to sleep.
Try it: Invent a completely pointless story. It doesn't need a plot, a lesson, or even an ending. Pick a prompt and let your imagination run wild:
- Who lives in the house across the street?
- Where did that lost sock you saw on the sidewalk end up?
- What does the bird you see every morning do after you leave?
- What happens inside the neighborhood bakery after it closes?
- Where does the moon go during the day?
See where the idea takes you. Maybe the bakery’s leftover croissants come alive after midnight. Maybe the moon spends its days swimming with schools of fish in the ocean. Give your imagination a chance to enter a new world instead of taking a backseat to the internet. If you fall asleep halfway through, bravo.
Help desk
🤔 How to flex your critical thinking skills
The internet is full of conflicting advice, hot takes, and confidently delivered opinions. How do you figure out what deserves your attention? Before you accept something as true, run it through a PAUSE filter:
Purpose: Why is someone telling me this?
Authority: What makes them qualified?
Underlying evidence: What's the actual evidence?
Specificity: Does this apply to my specific situation?
Else: What else could be true?
You don't need to have an opinion the second you encounter an idea. Pause, question what you're hearing, and give yourself time to decide what you actually think:
- Is this a fact, opinion, prediction, or marketing?
- What's the source?
- What's missing?
- Who benefits if I believe this?
- Would I think this if I hadn't just seen it online?
- Does it actually make sense for my life?
Reader insights
🧘♀️ Take the pressure out of exercise
When life feels loud and overwhelming, almost a third of women in our audience (29 percent) say they stop making time for exercise first.
Moving your body shouldn’t be another thing on your to-do list to conquer. You don't need to head out for a five-mile run or squeeze in a HIIT class if your body isn’t up for it. Skip the intense workout today, and pick one of these gentle movements to help you stay active with ease:
