Praxis of Objectivism - Your ideas for practical application

[secondhander]

What are some practical ways that you put objectivist philosophy to use for living on earth? New ways to look at things compared to how you viewed life before? Tips or concepts or nuggets of wisdom that you mentally refer back to to help you in everyday living or goal planning?

[secondhander]

I'll start with a recent one of mine (though perhaps this thread won't be the hit that I'd hoped it would be )

 

I have begun keeping a daily ledger of my personal spending. I have columns for the date, description of spending, amount, category of spending (to help me tally it up for my monthly budget), and moral value of the spending.

 

In the value column, I started to label each item with either an "S" (for "survival spending"), a "T" (for "thriving spending"), a "T[up carrot]" (for thriving spending that I value to be a positive thing for my life), or a "T[down carrot]" (for surviving spending that I judged  to be a negative thing for my life, like eating out when there isn't a good occasion for it). 

 

Then I realized that it was a contradiction to refer to morally negative spending as "thriving" spending. So now I mark that kind of spending with a "D," for "destructive spending." 

 

This little habit is beginning to help me see areas of spending that are negative and that don't utilize my rational mind well, and I get nearly immediate feedback (because I try to enter the spending into my ledger as soon as I can). 

 

The practice has helped me to reduce (and, I hope, to eventually eliminate) "D" spending, and to focus more on "S" and "T" spending.

 

So, any other bits of practical wisdom for living that you all can share? My other hope for this thread is to glean some new ideas.

Edited September 1, 2013 by secondhander