99 things that have improved my life 🌀

Recent changes in work, relationships, health, money, beauty & more...

Today I’m sharing 99 things that have improved my life in the last few years. They span my health, relationships, work, creativity, neurodivergence, finances, travel, and more.

I’ve grouped them into categories for ease. Maybe a few ideas will resonate with you!

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Business

1. Investing in a desktop computer, rather than working at my laptop all the time.

2. Hiring an amazing VA who handles all the tech stuff that makes my brain melt. Thanks, Yoko!

3. Using this ADHD Task Wizard to do brain dumping, to do’s, and project management. Best $27 spent in a long time.

4. Transitioning from 1:1 client work to holding more group spaces.

5. Never scheduling meetings for Mondays or Fridays.

6. Generally working a 4-day week.

7. Using Slack for team communications instead of email.

8. Hiring lawyers and accountants for the tricky CEO stuff like copyright infringement issues (ie. people ripping off my work) and submitting company accounts.

9. Setting up ManyChat to help bring Instagram followers over to Substack and direct people to long-form content like podcast episodes, articles, and courses.

10. Starting a podcast! It was in 2015 at a blogging event that I heard Pat Flynn say, “podcasts are the future” and I thought, “I could do that!” I feel thrilled to finally launch one, with another in the works…

11. Getting mentored. I recently worked with Dane Tomas in his ‘Permission’ offering, and it reminded me of the power of working with a mentor. Next month, I’m working with Julie Parker in a similar format and can’t wait to receive her guidance.
    
    Beauty & Style

12. Skin cycling each night between a liquid exfoliant, retinol, and moisturiser.

13. Wearing sunscreen. I finally got the memo.

14. Facial cupping—I got mine here.

15. Micro-needling, but only when I’m ovulating.

16. Getting an eyelash lift once every couple of months.

17. Realising brown mascara > black mascara.

18. Getting rid of all of my underwire bras, besides one lacy black one I wear once a year, and my sports bra. For a woman with 32DD to E breasts, I must say soft ‘crop tops’ have come a long way.

19. Having my colours ‘analysed’ by a professional stylist—I did this only last week, after years of guessing my best colours. I loathe shopping for clothes and find it overwhelming and draining. I think this insight is going to help! (I’m a ‘soft autumn’ IYKYK).

20. Realising oval nails > square.

21. Mostly not wearing foundation anymore. As an acne-survivor, this is BIG.

22. Realising expensive shampoo and conditioners > supermarket brands.

23. Letting my hair air-dry most of the time, instead of blow-drying.

24. This razor.

25. Buying an Akubra—wearing this hat makes me feel so Aussie but also so sophisticated, and is great for travelling and dirty hair days.
    
    Relationships

26. Realising compatibility > chemistry.

27. Closing my chapter on open-relating and re-exploring monogamy.

28. Sending “personal podcasts” to my best girlfriends, ie. long audio notes on WhatsApp.

29. Supporting my new-parent friends with home-cooked foods when visiting. Overnight oats, broth, protein balls, pre-made lasagne, etc!

30. Re-visiting my love languages and practicing how to ask for what I need in relationships. (Words of affirmation and physical touch here! Give me a compliment and a massage and I’m yours.)

31. Learning more about Non-Violent Communication (NVC) and how to effectively make requests, give compliments, communicate needs, and manage conflict.

32. Completing a professional training in Motivational Interviewing, which was originally intended purely as an upgrade to my coaching practice, but is something I quickly realised can be applied to personal conversations as well.

33. Asking my dad to take part in Storyworth—a subscription service that emails him with a prompt about his life each week, then turns them all into a bound book that me and my siblings, and his grandkids, can keep forever.

34. Exploring (and holding) sober conscious-sexuality spaces.

35. Exploring sensual and erotic connections with women.

36. Keeping a stack of greeting cards at home for birthdays.

37. Learning the RBDSM framework for initi ating sexual encounters, eg. checking in on Relationship Status, Boundaries, Desires, Sexual Health, and Meaning of the connection, including any after-care needs.

38. Leaving a relationship that was no longer right, for either of us.

39. Revisiting my Myers-Briggs personality type and how it relates to other types. I’m in INFJ, though I lean pretty hard towards P too. ChatGPT describes this type as, “an intuitive, empathetic visionary, driven by deep values, adept at understanding emotions, and guiding others toward personal growth.”

40. Adding my friend’s baby’s birth dates to my calendar immediately upon their birth, to repeat annually, so I can celebrate with them.
    
    Finances

41. Implementing the Profit First financial system in my business in 2022. I wish I had done this right from the beginning, but 9 years in was better than not at all.

42. Seriously questioning and minimising my Amazon Prime use. This is also an improvement for my soul health, tbh.

43. Doing my nails, eyebrows, and eyelash tinting at home to save money.

44. Scaling back my team. This was a super hard decision to make, but I don’t really want to lead a huge team, and I needed to make this decision for me and the long-term financial health of my company.
    
    Health & Wellbeing

45. Practicing menstrual cycle awareness, ie. tracking my cycle, getting to know my fertile signs, and living in alignment with the fluctuating energy of my body and mind from week-to-week, phase-to-phase. Okay, this is not a new one, obviously!! But I have to include.

46. Getting groceries delivered weekly. Supermarkets drain my spoons!!

47. Trying my best to eat 30g of protein at breakfast to support blood sugar balance. As someone who usually eats brekky mid-morning, I was very pleased to learn this doesn’t have to be 30g all in one go! It can be spread out across the morning, eg. some greek yoghurt upon waking, then eggs a little later. Thank you Lucia for this tip!

48. Upgrading my sleep quality with a nightly eye mask, ear plugs, and lavender oil. Every single night.

49. Adding collagen to pretty much everything: coffee, cacao, juice, smoothies, etc.

50. Spray on magnesium after a shower or bath.

51. Switching to primarily natural fabrics for clothes and 100% natural for bedlinen.

52. Practicing somatic emotional release techniques regularly. I demonstrate a few of them here.

53. Quitting coffee for five long years. I drink it semi-regularly again now, but that break was well-needed. I noticed such an improvement in pre-menstrual breast tenderness, digestion, and experiences of anxiety.

54. Acupuncture.

55. Realising reusable menstrual pads > menstrual cups (for me).

56. Minimising supplements and health tests. I’ve kept things much more simple this year and focused on improving sleep and eating regularly.

57. Installing Flux on my computer to minimise blue light at night, and adjusting the settings on my iPhone to do the same after sunset.

58. Getting inserts for my running shoes.

59. Getting a Thermomix. Granted, I would never have bought this myself, but it came with my boyfriend, and… it has helped so much re: eating regularly and eating a variety of ingredients, which are my biggest goals / challenges with food.

60. Taking big breaks from alcohol. My longest stretch of sobriety so far is 6 months (which might not seem like a lot, but it was huge for me).

61. Keeping my phone out of the bedroom. Yeah, it’s boring, but it helps.

62. Adding salt to my lemon water in the mornings. (My friend Laura tells me I need to go even further than this, with more electrolytes!)

63. Learning how to make an easy mineral-rich bone broth from weekly veggie scraps and cheap bones from the butcher. Take that £12 jar of bone broth from the cute but ridiculously expensive health food store!

64. Going on levothyroxine after 3 years of treating hypothyroidism naturally. This medication made such a huge difference in my energy and inner resilience.

65. Returning to strength training. I lost quite a bit of weight at the end of last year due to stress, and didn’t have the energy for a long time for workouts beyond walking or gentle pilates. Now that my weight has increased, it feels good to get back into weights! I’m enjoying The Class (you can use this link to get a 30-day free trial) and random kettlebell YouTube videos.
    
    Travel

66. Packing a familiar pillowcase from home to aid sleeping in a new bed.

67. Travelling with a deck of tarot cards and tiny objects to make a little altar when I travel, to remind me to do a soul check-in each day.

68. Realising that ‘city breaks’ are not holidays. They are fun, but in no way are they restorative for me. To recharge, I need trees, water, walks, quiet.

69. Saying, “Thanks House” or “Thanks Room” whenever leaving a place I’ve stayed.

70. Immediately finding the local sauna wherever I live / travel to.

71. Prioritising having a bathtub wherever I stay.

    Creativity & Joy

72. Going to sober dance events, like 5 Rhythms or Ecstatic Dance in London.

73. Getting a library membership and (here’s the kicker) actually using it.

74. Dusting off my kindle and downloading some of the beloved titles I’ve had to part with when moving, to take with me forever.

75. Starting this Substack and writing again. (I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you’re here, reading my words! Thank you!)

76. Learning how to write better from writers I admire; taking their courses, subscribing to their Substacks, reading their books, listening to their advice, attending workshops, writer’s groups, and talks.

77. Getting really into backgammon.

    
    Neurodivergence

78. Putting an ‘ADHD bowl’ on the table in the living room. This is for keys, cards, AirPods, lip gloss, hair ties—everything gets thrown in here as soon I walk through the door, and my gosh this saves me so many life minutes searching for these things.

79. Choosing a therapist who specialises in neurodivergence.

80. Making sure I connect with and move my body every single morning before I sit down to work, whether that’s a walk outside, a morning dance, or even just a stretch.

81. Wearing the baggy, super-soft and sensory-friendly t-shirts and track-pants that I normally save for PJ’s, just… all of the time.

82. Completing a professional training in Neurodivergence for Coaches, which taught me skills for working with neurodivergent clients, but encouraged and supported me personally, too.

83. Using my AirPods as earplugs during the day. Probably should invest in a proper set of cute day-time earplugs! (Any recommendations?)

84. Working on managing my time blindness by literally tripling how long I think a task will take, whether that’s a work project or just getting out the door.

85. Realising that walking > sitting down when learning. This means listening to trainings or doing meetings on the move!

86. Dragging all of my iPhone apps into folders, so that my home screen is clean and clear.

    
    General Joy & Life Satisfaction

87. Learning how to actually dress for the cold, ie. denim jeans are not a true winter item and HeatTech in January is my friend.

88. Leaving London.

89. Using the CleanUp app to tidy my iPhone photos and delete any duplicates, unnecessary screenshots, etc.

90. Fully embracing AI. ChatGPT helps me daily, with everything from planning holidays to lightly editing my writing to relationship coaching to email replies to launch plans to creating haikus for my friend’s birthdays to figuring out the origins of Hawaiian Pizza.1 I also use AI to generate transcripts, choose highlights from videos and podcasts to share, and specific images for digital art I create.

91. Learning how to grow herbs.

92. Getting a paper on the weekends and skipping the news apps,

93. Gift or jewellery shopping on Etsy and buying directly from the craftsperson or antique jewellery nerd themselves.

94. Riding my bike everywhere.

95. Having singing lessons after a lifetime of being told I can’t sing. I’m not sure I can sing, even still, but it was so scary and beautiful to do this for myself.

96. Saunas. Worth mentioning again.

97. Taking a solid break from social media each and every year. And I’m not just talking about a weekend, I’m talking like a month at least. My 6 months break in 2023 was fabulous!

98. Getting really into the ‘breakfast jazz’ and ‘chilled piano’ playlists on Spotify.

99. Learning how to compost.

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Tell us: which of these tips resonate with you? What might you like to know more about?

Big love!

Claire x

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1 Hawaiian pizza, known for its pineapple and ham topping, was created in 1962 by Sam Panopoulos, a Greek immigrant in Ontario, Canada. He named it after the brand of canned pineapple he used, though it has no direct connection to Hawaii.