Latest news with #lifehacks
Fox News
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
How to turn eggshells and vinegar into millions of online followers
During the coronavirus lockdowns, a filmmaker felt a strong need to stay creative — leading to the start of the hit viral account "Creative Explained." Armen Adamjan joined Fox News Digital to talk about how his passion for growing things and DIY projects aimed at improving cleaning and reducing waste turned him into a viral sensation known as "creative_explained" across social media. "I do life hacks, tips and tricks to show people how to simplify things in life," said Adamjan, who has nearly 10 million Instagram followers, in addition to 7 million on TikTok and another 4 million on YouTube. His inspiration came during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, when he began using his 12 years of experience as a filmmaker to create social media videos. "I was losing my mind just like everybody else, but I needed to create videos," he said. "I was also growing at my parents' house because I was stuck there. I did, you know, I grow some basic stuff like everybody, but I remember I was cutting into a green onion and I just thought, hey, do people even know that you can take the roots of this green onion? They usually throw it away." "If you just plant it in a pot with soil or just a glass of water, it'll just start to regrow. And I just thought like, hey, let me just post that on TikTok at the time. And yeah, I posted it. Next day, I got like 117,000 views. And then I was like, that's it. I'm onto something here." From this, Adamjan continued to show hacks on social media. "The whole journey was pretty much like me the first time, these things, these hacks. And when I discovered these hacks, naturally, I got excited. Naturally anybody would get excited if they see something working, right?" Adamjan said that the excitement the viewer sees in his videos is an accurate representation of how he feels about making a new discovery. Adamjan also shared that his videos are loved by all ages: "You got a grandma sharing something with a grandkid and a little kid sharing it with a parent." "The comments are all pretty much thanking me for showing them the knowledge and also a big part of it is how parents are very thankful for their kids are getting involved with these things, these little experiments and gardening and do-it-yourself project that I show," Adamjan said. "I would just look at a problem and try to figure out a solution and then explain very simply, creatively. Creative Explained." Adamjan hopes his videos provide more positivity to social media. "There's creators that feel obligated to say something about something that's happening around the world," he said. "But I feel like if you're doing say like a specific niche, like say cooking videos and just do the cooking videos, if you are doing hacks like me, then just do the hacks. Don't feed into people's negativity and the world's negativity. I think people just staying consistent with what they do and what they love is good enough… I just focus on what I can control and that's my content." Watch Armen appear on "Fox & Friends" on Monday at 6:50 AM E.T.
The Guardian
04-07-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Guardian
The secrets of self-optimisers: why ‘microefficiencies' are on the rise
As you read this, there will probably be a cup of tea going cold on Veronica Pullen's kitchen counter. Every time she wants a cup, Pullen makes two, one milkier than the other. She drinks the milkier one (she likes her tea lukewarm) immediately. She lets the other one sit for 40 minutes before drinking it once it has reached optimum temperature. It is an efficiency – albeit a tiny one – that she has been perfecting for two years. A copywriter and online trainer, Pullen, who is 54 and lives on the Isle of Wight with her husband and their chihuahua, says it takes her five minutes to boil a kettle, so she saves five minutes with every other cup. Over 24 hours, that adds up to 20 minutes saved. Across two years? She has clawed back slightly more than 10 full days. Pullen is just one of many people incorporating microefficiencies into their daily lives. There are people who brush their teeth in the shower; lay out their clothes the night before to save time in the morning; boil hot water for the day first thing and keep it to hand in a flask. But are these small, savvy streamlinings that shave minutes (sometimes, just seconds) off a task merely fun life hacks? Are they a symptom of a snowed-under society? Or are they indicative of an obsession with productivity? Take Pullen. As well as her conveyor belt of tea, she also saves time by cutting out decision-making when it comes to food. Every day, she has a hard-boiled egg for breakfast and a two-egg omelette for lunch. Then, for dinner, she eats whatever is on her weekly menu – on Wednesdays, for example, it's Thai chicken curry, and on Saturdays, sirloin steak. As well as this, she has a 'pool' of the same clothes, again removing the need to make a decision; and intentionally wears her trainers loose so she can slip them on and off rather than spending time tying and untying her laces. And she doesn't make her bed: nobody is going to see it, she says. If Pullen can streamline something, she will. 'Having more simplicity with these habits in my day-to-day life gives me more capacity and energy to do the things I want to do,' she says. 'I prefer not having to keep making micro choices.' Curiously, Pullen's husband doesn't follow her efficiencies, especially when it comes to food: often he cooks something different for himself. The only time Pullen relinquishes her microefficiencies is on holiday. The allure of microefficiencies is unsurprising. After all, so much of our self-worth is tied to output and achievement – at work and at home. You only have to glance at social media to see this writ large. #LifeHack has 11m posts on TikTok and 2.5m on Instagram, while Reddit's Productivity thread is a steady stream of people talking about how to boost, fine-tune and maximise. Elsewhere, productivity influencers such as Ali Abdaal (1 million followers on Instagram), Casey Major-Bunce (730,000 followers) and James Clear (1.6 million followers) implore us – one life hack and Ted talk at a time – to self-optimise, whether that is by getting up half an hour early to work out or by inflating a paddling pool 'within seconds' using a hairdryer. In particular, Clear's approach, in his bestselling book Atomic Habits, focuses on incorporating incremental changes that add up to a larger transformation, feeding into the idea that even tiny things have a big impact. Is it any wonder that people have become determined not to waste a second on any given task? Jennifer Babey, 36, from Hampshire has gone one step further than Pullen's loose trainers: six years ago she replaced her regular shoelaces with elastic ones. 'It's been a gamechanger,' she says. Babey, a business owner, estimates that she saves herself a minute each time she puts on her shoes. 'It helps me to make a swift exit out of the house.' As well as shunning shoelaces, Babey also streamlines breakfast by laying out her cutlery and crockery so it is ready when she gets home from the gym. 'Bowl, spoon, knife and chopping board if I plan for fruit, and cereal all on the table,' she says. 'Then, when I get home, I can just get the refrigerated stuff out and get on with eating.' While she concedes this doesn't necessarily save a huge amount of time, it does free up 'brain power' she may need to use on other jobs once home. 'Present Jenny is always grateful for the little efforts of past Jenny.' Because efficiency, of course, isn't just about doing things as quickly as possible but, rather, deploying resources – time, brain power – in the most effective way. Birmingham-based Jude Smith*, 45, who owns 11 spare pairs of glasses, stashes them in places such as her bedside table, her car glove box, her handbag, her church, a friend's house and even her sister's house in Germany, so she never has to think about where her specs are. 'It is very efficient for mental energy,' says Smith, who works in data protection and lives alone. Sarah Ingram, a 44-year-old freelance writer from Gloucestershire, keeps a notebook next to her during the work day and writes in it the names of anyone who WhatsApps her so she can reply to them in one go in the evening. Ingram says this method means it takes her five minutes to do what, with the endless distractions that come with picking up a phone, could consume up to 30 minutes of her day. Teacher Caroline Fisher*, 59, from Merseyside has fashioned a special tool from a bamboo pole and masking tape to enable her – to the chagrin of her grandchildren – to switch her living room light on and off from her sofa. This saves her, she says, 'three to four minutes walking around the sofa every day'. London-based Polly Arrowsmith, 57, who works in marketing and lives with her dog, cuts down on the time she spends getting ready by mostly wearing dresses, claiming this saves a few minutes every day. 'It makes dressing easy,' she says, because she can just slip them over her head. Not all microefficiencies are welcome, though. Lydia Berman, 47, who lives in Hertfordshire, tells me about the time her dad – efficiency aficionado Geoffrey Shalet, 81, who also Velcros his phone charger to his bedside for quick and easy access – fitted talking bathroom scales as a present for her mum. 'He installed them in the bathroom under the lino, so that every time she walked into the bathroom, the scales would say her weight,' says Berman. 'He thought it would be practical and time-saving. She thought it was near divorce.' In the end, the scales were removed from the lino and Berman's mum didn't speak to her dad for a week. Of course, while all microefficiencies, on the surface, serve the same purpose – to save snippets of time and mental energy – there are many other reasons why they might be incorporated into people's lives. Pullen, for example, has rheumatoid arthritis and says her hacks help her to conserve physical energy. 'I cut out what I term unnecessary effort,' she says. 'Routines are soothing.' And, although Shalet – who is retired and now lives alone after his wife died in 2020 – has used microefficiencies all his life, they have recently become even more helpful after a diagnosis of dementia. They have been so helpful, in fact, that the occupational therapist who came to assess his needs left with a collection of his efficiencies to share with other patients, such as writing down the expiry dates of every item in the fridge (including leftovers) on sticky notes, which go on a clipboard in the kitchen. Fisher admits to being 'bloody lazy' while Arrowsmith simply likes to spend time doing what she enjoys: visiting her local comedy club. One can't help but wonder, though, whether our love of efficiency speaks to how much store we set by productivity. Consultant counselling psychologist Dr Ritika Suk Birah, who has delivered keynote speeches on burnout, high-functioning anxiety and our cultural obsession with output, thinks our fascination with microefficiencies suggests we have internalised an idea that every moment must be maximised. 'On the surface, it can look like ambition, but it's often a sign of burnout creeping in,' she says. 'These behaviours are less about choice and more about survival. It can be driven by the belief that slowing down is unsafe or unproductive.' Susie Masterson, a Manchester-based psychotherapist who used to work in the technology sector (including for Google, where productivity was a 'persistent theme'), is seeing the impact efficiency obsessions can have on her clients. 'I've seen the pursuit of microefficiencies trigger OCD tendencies in clients as well as anxiety and depression. Feelings of not being good enough are common.' Microefficiencies, she adds, don't help us feel less lonely or disconnected, and being productive is not the same as feeling fulfilled. Babey agrees. 'The world is full of so much to be engaged with – podcasts, TV, social media, hobbies – that I think some people are feeling overwhelmed by everything they feel they should be doing,' she says. 'I certainly feel I always need to be doing something and being productive.' Smith, too, thinks our busy lives are to blame, saying: 'I don't know whether society really prizes efficiency or if it's just become a necessity to help people cope with overfull lives.' It's true, our lives are full. According to a report by Lloyds TSB Bank, the average adult in the UK feels they have just 23 hours of 'genuinely free' time a week (out of a possible 112 waking hours) – and 86% of those surveyed said they wanted more. With so little time, it's hardly surprising people have resorted to elasticated laces. What, then, can be done? According to Gabrielle Treanor, author of The 1% Wellness Experiment: Micro-gains to Change Your Life in 10 Minutes a Day, it's good to ask yourself why you are employing these microefficiencies. She confesses that when she worked in children's magazine publishing, she swapped from heels to flats at work so she could get across the office faster. 'Is it so you can squeeze more time out of your day to get more done, be more productive? Or is it so you can have more time for fun, for relaxing, connecting with loved ones, taking care of your wellbeing?' Interestingly, the efficiency hackers I spoke to all had one thing in common, and it wasn't burnout. Every one, without exception, was delighted with the microefficiencies they had developed. And although I suspect these efficiencies are symptomatic of a society that values success and being busy over, say, love or happiness or stability, there is also something undeniably charming about inventive people tinkering creatively, quietly, with the way they do things. Something to think about, perhaps, while that second cup of tea is cooling. * These names have been changed
The Guardian
03-07-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Guardian
The secrets of self-optimisers: why ‘microefficiencies' are on the rise
As you read this, there will probably be a cup of tea going cold on Veronica Pullen's kitchen counter. Every time she wants a cup, Pullen makes two, one milkier than the other. She drinks the milkier one (she likes her tea lukewarm) immediately. She lets the other one sit for 40 minutes before drinking it once it has reached optimum temperature. It is an efficiency – albeit a tiny one – that she has been perfecting for two years. A copywriter and online trainer, Pullen, who is 54 and lives on the Isle of Wight with her husband and their chihuahua, says it takes her five minutes to boil a kettle, so she saves five minutes with every other cup. Over 24 hours, that adds up to 20 minutes saved. Across two years? She has clawed back slightly more than 10 full days. Pullen is just one of many people incorporating microefficiencies into their daily lives. There are people who brush their teeth in the shower; lay out their clothes the night before to save time in the morning; boil hot water for the day first thing and keep it to hand in a flask. But are these small, savvy streamlinings that shave minutes (sometimes, just seconds) off a task merely fun life hacks? Are they a symptom of a snowed-under society? Or are they indicative of an obsession with productivity? Take Pullen. As well as her conveyor belt of tea, she also saves time by cutting out decision-making when it comes to food. Every day, she has a hard-boiled egg for breakfast and a two-egg omelette for lunch. Then, for dinner, she eats whatever is on her weekly menu – on Wednesdays, for example, it's Thai chicken curry, and on Saturdays, sirloin steak. As well as this, she has a 'pool' of the same clothes, again removing the need to make a decision; and intentionally wears her trainers loose so she can slip them on and off rather than spending time tying and untying her laces. And she doesn't make her bed: nobody is going to see it, she says. If Pullen can streamline something, she will. 'Having more simplicity with these habits in my day-to-day life gives me more capacity and energy to do the things I want to do,' she says. 'I prefer not having to keep making micro choices.' Curiously, Pullen's husband doesn't follow her efficiencies, especially when it comes to food: often he cooks something different for himself. The only time Pullen relinquishes her microefficiencies is on holiday. The allure of microefficiencies is unsurprising. After all, so much of our self-worth is tied to output and achievement – at work and at home. You only have to glance at social media to see this writ large. #LifeHack has 11m posts on TikTok and 2.5m on Instagram, while Reddit's Productivity thread is a steady stream of people talking about how to boost, fine-tune and maximise. Elsewhere, productivity influencers such as Ali Abdaal (1 million followers on Instagram), Casey Major-Bunce (730,000 followers) and James Clear (1.6 million followers) implore us – one life hack and Ted talk at a time – to self-optimise, whether that is by getting up half an hour early to work out or by inflating a paddling pool 'within seconds' using a hairdryer. In particular, Clear's approach, in his bestselling book Atomic Habits, focuses on incorporating incremental changes that add up to a larger transformation, feeding into the idea that even tiny things have a big impact. Is it any wonder that people have become determined not to waste a second on any given task? Jennifer Babey, 36, from Hampshire has gone one step further than Pullen's loose trainers: six years ago she replaced her regular shoelaces with elastic ones. 'It's been a gamechanger,' she says. Babey, a business owner, estimates that she saves herself a minute each time she puts on her shoes. 'It helps me to make a swift exit out of the house.' As well as shunning shoelaces, Babey also streamlines breakfast by laying out her cutlery and crockery so it is ready when she gets home from the gym. 'Bowl, spoon, knife and chopping board if I plan for fruit, and cereal all on the table,' she says. 'Then, when I get home, I can just get the refrigerated stuff out and get on with eating.' While she concedes this doesn't necessarily save a huge amount of time, it does free up 'brain power' she may need to use on other jobs once home. 'Present Jenny is always grateful for the little efforts of past Jenny.' Because efficiency, of course, isn't just about doing things as quickly as possible but, rather, deploying resources – time, brain power – in the most effective way. Birmingham-based Jude Smith*, 45, who owns 11 spare pairs of glasses, stashes them in places such as her bedside table, her car glove box, her handbag, her church, a friend's house and even her sister's house in Germany, so she never has to think about where her specs are. 'It is very efficient for mental energy,' says Smith, who works in data protection and lives alone. Sarah Ingram, a 44-year-old freelance writer from Gloucestershire, keeps a notebook next to her during the work day and writes in it the names of anyone who WhatsApps her so she can reply to them in one go in the evening. Ingram says this method means it takes her five minutes to do what, with the endless distractions that come with picking up a phone, could consume up to 30 minutes of her day. Teacher Caroline Fisher*, 59, from Merseyside has fashioned a special tool from a bamboo pole and masking tape to enable her – to the chagrin of her grandchildren – to switch her living room light on and off from her sofa. This saves her, she says, 'three to four minutes walking around the sofa every day'. London-based Polly Arrowsmith, 57, who works in marketing and lives with her dog, cuts down on the time she spends getting ready by mostly wearing dresses, claiming this saves a few minutes every day. 'It makes dressing easy,' she says, because she can just slip them over her head. Not all microefficiencies are welcome, though. Lydia Berman, 47, who lives in Hertfordshire, tells me about the time her dad – efficiency aficionado Geoffrey Shalet, 81, who also Velcros his phone charger to his bedside for quick and easy access – fitted talking bathroom scales as a present for her mum. 'He installed them in the bathroom under the lino, so that every time she walked into the bathroom, the scales would say her weight,' says Berman. 'He thought it would be practical and time-saving. She thought it was near divorce.' In the end, the scales were removed from the lino and Berman's mum didn't speak to her dad for a week. Of course, while all microefficiencies, on the surface, serve the same purpose – to save snippets of time and mental energy – there are many other reasons why they might be incorporated into people's lives. Pullen, for example, has rheumatoid arthritis and says her hacks help her to conserve physical energy. 'I cut out what I term unnecessary effort,' she says. 'Routines are soothing.' And, although Shalet – who is retired and now lives alone after his wife died in 2020 – has used microefficiencies all his life, they have recently become even more helpful after a diagnosis of dementia. They have been so helpful, in fact, that the occupational therapist who came to assess his needs left with a collection of his efficiencies to share with other patients, such as writing down the expiry dates of every item in the fridge (including leftovers) on sticky notes, which go on a clipboard in the kitchen. Fisher admits to being 'bloody lazy' while Arrowsmith simply likes to spend time doing what she enjoys: visiting her local comedy club. One can't help but wonder, though, whether our love of efficiency speaks to how much store we set by productivity. Consultant counselling psychologist Dr Ritika Suk Birah, who has delivered keynote speeches on burnout, high-functioning anxiety and our cultural obsession with output, thinks our fascination with microefficiencies suggests we have internalised an idea that every moment must be maximised. 'On the surface, it can look like ambition, but it's often a sign of burnout creeping in,' she says. 'These behaviours are less about choice and more about survival. It can be driven by the belief that slowing down is unsafe or unproductive.' Susie Masterson, a Manchester-based psychotherapist who used to work in the technology sector (including for Google, where productivity was a 'persistent theme'), is seeing the impact efficiency obsessions can have on her clients. 'I've seen the pursuit of microefficiencies trigger OCD tendencies in clients as well as anxiety and depression. Feelings of not being good enough are common.' Microefficiencies, she adds, don't help us feel less lonely or disconnected, and being productive is not the same as feeling fulfilled. Babey agrees. 'The world is full of so much to be engaged with – podcasts, TV, social media, hobbies – that I think some people are feeling overwhelmed by everything they feel they should be doing,' she says. 'I certainly feel I always need to be doing something and being productive.' Smith, too, thinks our busy lives are to blame, saying: 'I don't know whether society really prizes efficiency or if it's just become a necessity to help people cope with overfull lives.' It's true, our lives are full. According to a report by Lloyds TSB Bank, the average adult in the UK feels they have just 23 hours of 'genuinely free' time a week (out of a possible 112 waking hours) – and 86% of those surveyed said they wanted more. With so little time, it's hardly surprising people have resorted to elasticated laces. What, then, can be done? According to Gabrielle Treanor, author of The 1% Wellness Experiment: Micro-gains to Change Your Life in 10 Minutes a Day, it's good to ask yourself why you are employing these microefficiencies. She confesses that when she worked in children's magazine publishing, she swapped from heels to flats at work so she could get across the office faster. 'Is it so you can squeeze more time out of your day to get more done, be more productive? Or is it so you can have more time for fun, for relaxing, connecting with loved ones, taking care of your wellbeing?' Interestingly, the efficiency hackers I spoke to all had one thing in common, and it wasn't burnout. Every one, without exception, was delighted with the microefficiencies they had developed. And although I suspect these efficiencies are symptomatic of a society that values success and being busy over, say, love or happiness or stability, there is also something undeniably charming about inventive people tinkering creatively, quietly, with the way they do things. Something to think about, perhaps, while that second cup of tea is cooling. * These names have been changed
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
These Seemingly Insignificant Daily Habits Have Actually Changed People's Lives, And I'm Full Of Gratitude For The Free Advice
There's nothing better than discovering life hacks, especially when they're easy, small habits that deliver big results. So, for the people, someone asked on /r/ask, "What's a small habit you picked up that completely changed your life? Not a big life event, but something tiny you started doing daily that unexpectedly made everything better." Here's what people had to say: 1."Take a genuine interest in people. People notice when you're not just a passive person, and suddenly more opportunities open up." — coulls 2."Saying 'NO' to the things I don't want to do, listen, know, or buy. I should have done this earlier." — Dinilddp "I have suffered so much because I did not do it early in my life. Saying 'no' to conversations, saying 'no' to social gatherings, etc., that were just plain brain rot." — hellomouse1234 "Sometimes it's peer pressure. I've lost some friends because of this before. I guess they weren't the right people for me." — rogfy_dot_com 3."Stopped talking, and started asking people questions." — Duke-of-Surreallity "This!! You cultivate so many relationships when you can truly listen and ask questions." — haley520 4."Being curious, not judgmental." — clemoh 5."I (64-year-old female) have this habit of saying to myself, 'No time like the present,' whenever I'm faced with something I could procrastinate on. For whatever reason, it inspires me to act." — AmexNomad 6."Doing the dishes after I finish eating." — Uu-Sr 7."I stopped impulse shopping. I'll give it a few days, and if I still feel like it's necessary, then I'll buy it." — Classic_Text4557 8."Walking." "Walking around my neighborhood for 2 miles after dinner helped a ton with my lower back pain and general stiffness." — blksmnr Related: 25 Life-Changing Habits People Added To Their Everyday Routines To Improve Their Lives For The Better 9."Walking after eating, but also weight lifting. Nothing wild. I started with three days a week, doing half-hour workouts. Now, it's four days a week, but both together have made a HUGE impact in my life." — doublenickels_55 10."Never snooze. Ever. Wake up at the first alarm. Stretch everyday." — lostpassword100000 "Stand up to turn the alarm off. If necessary, turn your alarm to max volume and place it on the other side of the room." — Total_Grapefruit_785 11."Hara Hachi Bu. Stop eating when 80% full. Eat The Frog. Do the quick, tedious stuff first." — MissingInAnarchy 12."After a year of doing Duolingo lessons daily, I liked the idea of a self-improvement streak. I added one set of max push-ups daily. When I got used to that, I added flossing to my daily routine. Eventually, I added crunches and leg raises for my daily ab workout. Recently, I completed two years of daily push-ups. Kept everything in the routine. Adding a small bit to your daily routine and sticking to it definitely adds up." — Grouchy-Step-7136 Related: Women Are Revealing How Their Lives Have Been Affected By President Trump's Policies, And They're Not Holding Back ANYTHING 13."Drinking more water often." — SecretUnlikely3848 14."Put your keys in the same place every time you come in." — TheNinjaPixie 15."Doing small tasks exactly when I notice them. Brush lying on the living room table? I'll bring it to the bathroom where it belongs. A used tissue? The trash can is 10 meters away. Full hamper? Takes about two minutes to start a load in the washer. In the long run, that's so much easier than looking at that tissue 15 times, thinking I should throw it away soon." — Idum23 16."Not gossiping. Lost a lot of friends because of this." — Important_Year_7355 17."Conversing to understand, not to respond." — Not_burner_accountt 18."Getting a daily pill box." — Elegant-Expert7575 "Turned 40 (cliche, I know) and started taking more supplements and vitamins in addition to a few prescriptions. I also started traveling more, and it was getting to the point that halfway through most days, sans the vitamins, I couldn't remember if I had taken my Wellbutrin (a 90-count bottle), so it wasn't like I was going to stand there and count back like maybe you could with a 30-count. Anyway, it just keeps me accountable whether at home or traveling." — DowntownCountdown 19."Sobriety." — Hickey613 20."Making my bed in the morning." — Lower_Alternative770 21."Keeping a consistent sleep schedule." — Latkavicferrari 22."Accepting compliments rather than rejecting them." — ShaxXxpeare 23."Guarding what thoughts I allow into my mind." — dreamed2life 24."The first 10 minutes when I get home after work, I don't allow myself to sit. I do laundry, dust, and do whatever needs to be done. Also, the last 10 minutes before bed, I'll load and unload the dishwasher or finish up whatever I started earlier. On my days off, it's the first 10 minutes after breakfast. This has made it incredibly easy to keep the house tidy. My mind used to focus on chores and forget to relax. By knowing I'm committing that time, I can actually relax." — shers719 These are too good! I'm definitely taking notes. Have any small life-changing habits to share? Drop them in the comments below! Note: Responses have been edited for length/clarity. Also in Goodful: 19 "Garbage" Modern Trends People Refuse To Partake In Despite Their Popularity Also in Goodful: "This Has Taken Me Years And Years And YEARS To Figure Out": This Woman's Clever Way To Tell If Someone Is Your Real Friend Is Being Called The Most Accurate Thing Ever Also in Goodful: "I Can't Wait For This To Go Out Of Style": People Are Sharing Popular Modern Trends That Are Actually Pretty Toxic
Telegraph
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Choose to have fortitude: life lessons from Andi and Miquita Oliver
Anita Rani is finding out how you can live your best life on her new podcast, Bright Ideas with Anita Rani, in partnership with EE. In the latest episode she gets double the life hacks with mother and daughter duo Andi and Miquita Oliver. Andi is a top TV chef, best known for her appearances on Great British Menu, now in its 20th series, while Miquita was a household name on T4 and Popworld in her teenage years, and has gone from strength to strength ever since. More recently, they have been winning over audiences with their podcasts Stirring It Up and Miss Me?, the latter of which Miquita hosts with childhood best friend and singer Lily Allen. Sitting down with Anita, the pair explore what it takes to be happy during and after periods of adversity. Drawing on her experiences as a single mother, Andi discusses some of the toughest moments in her life and what got her through them – 'You have to choose to have fortitude and step towards the light' – while they both reflect on their journey rediscovering their Caribbean heritage with their show The Caribbean with Andi and Miquita: 'They were having a drumming circle ceremony, and we got out the van and they all said, 'Welcome home.' I couldn't stop crying.' They also talk about the importance of a holistic approach to life, surrounding themselves with good people, the challenges of staying organised – and which apps can help – and why they are each others' best friends. For all their chat, laughter and advice, enjoy the full episode with Andi and Miquita Oliver Bright Ideas with Anita Rani wherever you listen to your podcasts. For more tips, life hacks, insights and stories, listen to Bright Ideas with Anita Rani on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes will be released weekly on Wednesdays.
