The hh Glossary

Find it here!

Thanks to habithacker Katy for the suggestion!

3H. See “Half-assed Housekeeping Hour”, below.

Artist date. See “moodling”.

Bête noire. An area of the house, often hidden, that morphs from seemingly manageable to the monster it truly is. French for “black beast,” it’s often a dirty little secret we hide from others…and try to forget ourselves. On Terrible Tuesdays, Habithackers take 11 minutes to beat back this beast, whether it’s a basement, a guest room, or the closet that swallowed Cincinnati. Nest 18.

Blame the Babylonians. Habithacker shorthand for remembering that time can’t really be “managed,” but you can make good use of it. Nest 60.

BOP. Brain on paper. The way we keep track of routines so we can free our minds for worthwhile pursuits. Nest 8. Nest 9.Nest 42.

Chasing Day. At Habithacker we believe f you’re running errands every day, you’re chasing your tail. We set aside one day a week to get them done. It’s called Chasing Day and it happens every Thursday (although you’re free to schedule it any day that works for you). Nest 25.

CrapClean. Give it a lick and a promise. Don’t get all perfectionistic. Nest 46.

Creative collage. Also dream board, vision board. An indirect way at getting at your real desires in which you collage together images that portray your desires. It’s a way of seeing your dreams in a physical, concrete form. Create 4. Create 55.

Creative ritual. A short cut that gets you in the creative state of mind. Similar to your “creative shrine.” Create 26.

Creativity shrine. A simple or elaborate place for a special talisman that gets you in the right frame of mind. Serves a function similar to your “creative ritual.” Create 29.

Creation Station. A way to make your creative project portable. Create 71.

Creative Sundays. Create 7. Nest 21.

D-Day. Declutter day. Habithackers do 11 minutes of decluttering every Wednesday. Categories are Dump, Donate, Deliver.  Nest 12. SOS 13.Nest 56

Doing the Dirty. That’s doing the dirty laundry, bub. Nest 30.

Drive Decon 11. Once a week we decontaminate our cars for 11 minutes. After Chasing Day on Thursdays. Nest 25.

Dream board. See “creative collage”.

Elevens. Or magic 11s. 11 minutes is the perfect interval for motivation. Nest 11. SOS 11.

Free-your-mind Fridays. Every Friday, Habithackers dump the contents of their brains right into their BOPs (see above). Nest 23.

The good and plenty. Habithacker shorthand reminder that: good enough is plenty good. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to get done. And so on. Nest 20. SOS 20. Create 20.

Half-assed Housekeeping Hour, 3H. Habithackers spend an hour once a week on Mondays running around our houses like lunatics doing a quick and superficial job of cleaning only the most obvious spots people see. Not clean enough for you? Then see entry, “The good and plenty,” above. Nest 17.

The Ides. Creative people are rebels and must rebel against routines. Therefore we hereby proclaim the Ides of each month as habithacking holidays. Stack up your shitspot.  Don’t face your place. Defy D-Day. Disobey your BOP. Then fill in the blank. On the Ides,  I’d rather be   _____.” What would you rather be doing? Nest 15. SOS 15. Create 15.

P4.P4 is Habithacker code for the half-assed job we do several times a week cleaning the worst of the bathroom.  Right after Number 1 and Number 2…perform P4. Do you really want to know more? Then visit: Nest 24.

Polish your place. A little “island of sanity” that Habithackers clean and clear twice a day. Even if nothing else is right with the world, the place is polished.   Nest 1. Nest 4.

Science of Seven. Although it’s widely pronounced as if scientific proof exists, it’s simply not true that it takes 21 days to make a habit. It’s something of an urban legend. Therefore, here at Habithacker, we don’t beat ourselves up if we’ve not mastered something after 21 days. Every 7 days is a chance to start fresh. We call it the Science of Seven. Nest 27.

Shitspot. A spot that collects clutter. Once you put down one thing, the pile grows faster and faster. Habithackers shovel shitspots daily. Nest 6.

ShitKit. The ShitKit  is for when shit happens: you’re under terible time constraints and have to make the room “look” presentable even when it’s not. Nest 41.

Terrible Tuesdays. So named because every Tuesday Habithackers face down our bete noires (see above) for 11 minutes. Nest 18.

Vision board. See” creative collage”.