Fight Decision-Making Fatigue like Steve Jobs
Have you ever experienced decision-making fatigue?
You skip lunch because you don’t know what you want, don’t feel like making something, look up and realize your lunch hour is almost over.
You agonize over every decision, only to exhaust yourself.
What if, instead of exerting all that energy all the time, you could make your life easier by only making the important decisions?
Steve Jobs & Mark Zuckerberg Wore the Same Thing Every Day
Steve Jobs understood that the less time he spent making decisions, the more time and energy he had for the important things.
Known for wearing the same black turtleneck, blue jeans, and New Balance sneakers every single day, this became Jobs’ signature look.
We all have a finite amount of time and energy to spend each day, and this is why Jobs decided to take clothing decisions out of his schedule.
No more shopping forever trying to find something he liked. He just bought the same thing over and over and wore the same thing every day.
This removed time spent shopping and time spent choosing clothes in the morning.
Mark Zuckerberg does the same thing - he typically wears a grey t-shirt and blue jeans.
“I really want to clear my life to make it so that I have to make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best serve this community,” he said when asked about his outfit. “I’m in this really lucky position, where I get to wake up every day and help serve more than a billion people. And I feel like I’m not doing my job if I spend any of my energy on things that are silly or frivolous about my life.”
How to Use This Strategy in Your Life
If you’re looking for a way to insert this time management strategy into your life, here are a few suggestions:
Simplify Your Wardrobe
Like Jobs and Zuckerberg, simplify your clothing choices. Choose a casual outfit, formal outfit, and a business outfit and just wear those.
Or just select a few tops, sweaters, bottoms, and dresses you love and buy multiple quantities of them. Then essentially wear the same thing every day or week.
Another way to do this without getting rid of your clothes is to plan out the week’s outfits ahead of time. On Sunday night, set out your outfits for each day of the week. In the morning, you can just grab it and get dressed quickly!
Morning Routine
Design your ideal morning routine. Schedule it out by 15-minute or 30-minute increments.
The morning is full of mundane decisions like choosing what to wear, when to wake up, what makeup to use, when to leave for work, and what to eat.
Do the same thing every morning when you wake up. Soon it’ll feel like second nature.
For example, I eat the same bagel with cream cheese every single day. I don’t have to waste an ounce of brainpower worrying about what to have for breakfast.
Schedule Grocery Shopping & Other Chores
Only do grocery shopping once a week, on the same day and the same time. Then you won’t lose time running to the store during the week.
You could even just set up a recurring grocery delivery schedule or utilize Amazon’s Dash Buttons for things you typically buy a lot of, such as laundry detergent or toilet paper.
The same goes for household chores like laundry, running the dishwasher, cleaning the bathroom, sweeping and vacuuming.
Simply do these chores at the same time every week so it won’t pop up into your schedule out of nowhere.
Meal Planning Made Easy
If meal planning stresses you out, stop browsing through endless recipes.
Think about what you love eating and choose one thing to eat each day at mealtime. You can eat the exact same thing for lunch daily.
This saves you the stress of trying to figure out what to eat, spending money last minute on takeout, and skipping meals due to indecision.
If you’re wanting a little more variety, pick 3 things and rotate them throughout the week. It helps even more if you prep your meals ahead of time, perhaps on Sunday night. Then you can just grab and go when you get hungry!
Exercise at the Same Time Every Day
Decide on a specific time to exercise every single day.
Don’t constantly stress over when you can go to the gym. Pick a time and stick to it - no matter what.
It’s even better if you can choose an accountability partner to work out with you at that time. That way, if you’re not feeling motivated, you won’t want to cancel on your friend.
