1. Learn to clean as you go. You will save many hours.
  2. Grocery shop after a meal. When you’re hungry, everything looks delicious and you end up spending too much.
  3. If you don’t need something, don’t buy it.
  4. Time is becoming ever elusive in today’s society. Learn to multitask. Pay bills on the train ride to work, listen to lectures while doing housework, see all your friends at the same time and catch up with them all at once.
  5. When you’re in a good mood, don’t make promises! When that good mood goes away, that promise will be hard to follow through with.
  6. If it takes less than two minutes, do it now.
  7. Always sleep well. More time spent out of focus and unproductively is never as good as shorter, efficient time.
  8. Being healthier doesn’t necessarily mean you need to spend more time and money. Take the stairs, eat fruit instead of candy, add honey instead of sugar.
  9. Smile at strangers. It will brighten up their day and yours too.
  10. Don’t let a second go by wasted. Find a passion, a person, or a goal to live for.

Shana Tiang, Composer and Chronic Ponderer

Vocabulary Help

  • a goal to live for – um objetivo ao qual se dedicar
  • as you go – enquanto estiver fazendo
  • bills – contas, faturas
  • candy – doce
  • Don’t let a second go by wasted – Não desperdice nem um segundo
  • end up – acabar
  • everything looks delicious – tudo parece delicioso
  • Find a passion – encontre uma paixão
  • good mood – bom humor
  • Grocery shop after a meal – Ir ao mercado depois de uma refeição
  • hard to follow – difícil de cumprir
  • health – saúde
  • honey – mel
  • housework – trabalho de casa
  • hungry – faminto, com fome
  • If it takes less than two minutes, do it now – Se leva menos de dois minutos, faça agora
  • It will brighten up their day – Vai iluminar o dia deles
  • learn (learn, learnt, learnt) – aprender
  • lectures – aulas
  • listen – ouvir
  • multitask – multitarefa
  • out of focus – fora de foco
  • promise – promessa
  • save – economizar
  • sleep (sleep, slept, slept) – dormir
  • smile – sorrir
  • spend – gastar
  • take the stairs – use as escadas
  • train ride to work – viagem de trem para o trabalho