Make your Life Easier by Converting Decisions into Systems

You have a fixed amount of decision making each day (see Wired article, Conserve Your Willpower, It Runs Out), so it’s incredibly valuable to automate the unimportant decisions so you can focus on the valuable ones.

So carve out some time to reflect on what takes your time and energy, and what your goals are; and then invest energy in creating and sustaining systems, instead of trying to make new decisions constantly:

  • President Obama reduces daily choices like which suit to wear and what food to eat, so he can focus on important decisions
  • Personal finances – Ramit Sethi’s great blog post explains how you can automate your monthly savings and investing, so you don’t need to spend time each month managing it
  • Create weekly and daily routines around how you eat — think about how grocery shopping and weekly routines can set your week up for success or failure regarding food (see Scott Adams’ blog or Tim Ferris’ 3 minute breakfast recommendation)
  • I have a weekly work routine where my colleagues share our top priorities for the upcoming week each Monday as a way to communicate priorities, identify ways to help each other, and hold each other accountable (check out Execution:  The Discipline of Getting Things Done)
  • When I come home from work, I put my work shirt on the right side of the closet so I don’t keep wearing the shirt day-after-day (it’s one less thing to remember early in the morning)

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