Cheat codes for life

Daniel Pink, who describes himself as having "written seven books about human behaviour, raised three children, stayed married for three decades, and made, conservatively, 10,000 mistakes", presents 30 life "cheat codes" organised into five levels: decisions, people, productivity, work, and life.

Click for Daniel to walk you through al the tips

Level 1: Decisions

1. Decide using an ordinary Tuesday, not a fantasy Saturday. Judge houses, jobs and cities by their typical day, not their best day — e.g. "What will the commute feel like on a Tuesday?" He used this standard when leaving White House work to work for himself: "51 out of 52 Tuesdays would be better."
2. For reversible decisions, decide fast. Most decisions are "two-way doors" — don't spend three weeks agonising over something you can undo in three minutes. Save deliberation for one-way doors.
3. Ask "what would change my mind?" "If your answer is nothing, you're not thinking, you're defending." Seek out one smart person who thinks your plan is a terrible idea.
4. Ask what happens if you do nothing. Inaction is itself a decision; some problems vanish when you stop feeding them — "don't just do something, stand there."
5. Make lots of small bets. Take risks whose upside could change your life and whose downside won't ruin it. "Most of life is shots on goal."
6. Judge decisions by process, not only outcome. A smart decision can produce a bad result and vice versa. Ask: did I use the information available, consider alternatives, and understand the risks?

Level 2: People

7. Before solving someone's problem, ask what they want — advice, help, or just company. Not every problem shared is an invitation to solve it.
8. Assume incompetence before malice. Hostility is often distraction or a terrible day; "the world contains fewer enemies and more overwhelmed people than we think."
9. Notice who asks you questions. Curiosity is an underrated diagnostic for friendship, romance and collaboration.
10. Don't keep score in relationships you want to keep. "Generosity stops being generosity when you maintain a spreadsheet." Strong relationships are roughly reciprocal over time, not equal in every moment.
11. Build an infrastructure for friendship. Make recurring plans (monthly dinners, Saturday walks, standing calls) and give specific invitations — "Let's have a beer Thursday at 6:00" beats "let's get together," which is "goodbye in slow motion."
12. Eliminate toxic people — including relatives. "Shared DNA isn't a licence to treat you poorly. Distance isn't always cruel; sometimes distance is an act of wisdom."

Level 3: Productivity

13. Define "done" before you begin. He cites Lorne Michaels, creator of Saturday Night Live: "We don't go on because we're ready. We go on because it's 11:30."
14. Make the first step embarrassingly small. Don't write the book; write three sentences. Don't get in shape; put your shoes by the door.
15. Let it be easy. "Difficulty is not evidence of virtue." Use the rotisserie chicken, buy the pre-cut vegetables — otherwise it's "self-inflicted pain with a superiority complex."
16. Prepare tomorrow's first move tonight. "Willpower is usually unreliable. Appointments are usually unavoidable." (His example: scheduling a dresser-drawer clean for 2:30 on a Wednesday.)
17. Keep a "waiting for" list. Learned from David Allen's Getting Things Done — track what others owe you, or your brain will remind you at 3 a.m.
18. Treat constant busyness as a warning, not a status symbol. It may mean refusing to make choices or feeding your ego. "When everything feels urgent, stop adding. Subtract."

Level 4: Work

19. Send the recap email. Decisions, owners, deadlines. Writing it forces you to understand what happened; AI can help organise it, "but don't let it do all the thinking."
20. Make your boss's life easier. Bosses sort people into those who make their life harder and those who make it easier — be in the second category.
21. Ask for the deadline, then ask for the real deadline. Fake deadlines create unnecessary work and panic.
22. Lead with the request and bring a recommendation. "Diagnosis is useful. Prescription is essential."
23. Get good at something valuable that everybody else avoids. "Neglected skills have very little competition."
24. Don't be the boss you had — be the boss you should have had. Do the opposite of your worst managers; provide what you needed and never got.

Level 5: Life

25. Design your environment around your behaviour. Store things where you use them; "redundancy beats self-discipline" (two chargers, two umbrellas).
Spend money eliminating recurring misery before buying occasional pleasure. Fix the terrible mattress before booking the fancy weekend — "The weekend in Antigua lasts three days. The mattress is every night of your year."
27. Create traditions on purpose. Rituals turn passing time into a memorable life (his family's two-decade-old "lucky pudding" on New Year's Day).
28. Stop trying to be normal. "Normal is crowded." Interesting people ask "is this right for me?" rather than "is this normal?"
29. Compete with yourself, not somebody else. Social comparison is rigged — you compare their outsides with your insides. "Aim for a personal best."
30. Avoid unnecessary suffering, accept necessary suffering. Eliminate friction that proves nothing, but don't expect anything worthwhile to cost nothing. "You might simply be paying the price of admission."

Closing

Pink's advice: don't try all 30 — pick two (one that removes hassle, one you've been resisting) and use both this week. He invites viewers to share their own cheat code in the comments, and mentions a free one-page cheat sheet listing all 30 codes (link below the video).