I have a confession to make: I work at Lifehacker.

I write about how to do things faster, more efficiently, and cheaper for a living.

Yet I still fail.

And I don’t follow every tip I’ve written about.

But that’s okay.

Before I was a Lifehacker writer, I was a Lifehacker reader.

They carried around notebooks towrite down every idea.

The notebook wasautomagically scanned into Evernote.

They’dstop answering emailat precisely 9pm, andturn their screens offfor at least an hour to get better sleep.

What a perfectly organized, structured, and productive day!

That’s great and all.

But it also lacks a lot of flexibility.

Before I worked for Lifehacker, I wrote for Android Police.

That job required a lot of atypical hours, like coveringRovio product launches at 4am.

What a great opportunity to work on ahighly visible, key project that was a priority for my boss!

Yet it violated a lot of “rules.”

Everything’s a trade off.

Instead, start withwhat you actually want to do in lifeand incorporate the tricks that help you get there.

In fact, being okay with ignoring some tips was almost more important than the ones I followed.

To filter the right tips that are worth following, start byobserving your own patterns.

Even if it’s still a problem that you want to work on, save it for later.

I feel really bad about this.

The thing is, guilt isa terrible motivator.

If you feel guilty for taking breaks, you won’t relax.

This can lead to burnout, which isa real and serious problem.

Because you feel bad for not getting enough done, youavoid taking a vacation.

Then you read some article telling youhow much you’re failingby not taking a vacation.

So, you finally break down and take one, but youwork the entire time.

This isn’t a problem with how efficiently you work.

In fact, just because you feel lazydoesn’t mean you are.

The problem is that you’re expecting too much of yourself.

Train yourself tostop being a cynical asshole, especially towards yourself.

Judge me if you must, but it was an experience I’d never had before.

It was fascinating to me and now I have stories to tell.

I broke a lot of rules to get that done.

All of which, I’ve been told, can have serious consequences.

I did everything wrong and it was still fulfilling.

Lifehacker’s mantrahas always been “Tips, tricks and downloads for getting things done.”

And this isa noble goal.

But there’s also more to life than just accomplishing work.

That doesn’t mean that the tips are wrong.

I usually keep the 90 minute rule about sleep in mind because it helps me sleep better.

What it does mean is that the rules are more like guidelines.

You have things you want to do with your life and that’s okay.

You’re going to mess up, lose control, or just not care about certain tips.

Sometimes life gets in the way.

And that’s okay.

Work can be very fulfilling.

So can spending time with friends and family.

What’s fulfilling to you is something that only you could decide.

So don’t feel bad if you screw up or don’t have a perfectly optimized life.

Photos byhikabu,Izzy, andMoyan Brenn.