2019
Making the right decision
It’s said the average person makes 35,000 decisions every day. What to eat for breakfast? What shirt to wear? Which door to go through? Where to go for lunch?
A simple way to save brain power is to cut down on the number of decisions you need to make. Some of the most successful people have already figured this out. They simply wear the same thing every day.
Here are 7 ways you can cut down small daily decisions so you can save the brain strength to make better BIGGER decisions
1. EAT THE SAME THING.
One thing I am grateful for when it comes to doing bodybuilding is that it taught me how to eat the same thing every day, and I mean the exact same thing: turkey, green beans, and almonds, 5 mini-meals per day, with only dinner for variety. I am not alone: many successful people regularly eat the same thing to free up mental space.
For the past six months, 95% of my weekday lunches at home have been the exact same thing. Will and I are actively discussing what lunch will look like when the weather finally warms up. (It’s looking like something involving salad greens and chicken.) Breakfast is always some combination of eggs and fruit. No decisions required.
2. … OR ALMOST THE SAME THING.
There are less drastic ways to implement the same principle. I eat fish every time I go out with my wife. One day a week I will have also have “FREE DAY’ I eat whatever I want as long as its healthy and it has a protein source on the plate
3. EMBRACE DAILY ROUTINES.
I make coffee every morning, then sit down at the computer and start writing (like these articles). (Not Facebook, not email. Writing.) Then I go down and make breakfast for my wife.
It turns out I’m doing something right: time management experts say if you don’t know where to start, start with implementing a morning routine and evening routine. I also have a routine for the 2:00 hour, which is when I hit my bed
For an amazing look at possible daily routines, check out Perfect day formula by my Coach Craig Ballantyne
4. ESTABLISH HARD EDGES IN YOUR DAY.
From that book I learned to “Set a start time and a finish time for your workday, even if you work alone. Dedicate different times of day to different activities: creative work, meetings, your workout, email work, and so on. These hard edges keep tasks from taking longer than they need to and encroaching on your other important work. They also help you avoid workaholism, which is far less productive than it sounds.
I’ve been gradually building more of these hard edges into my day. I’d especially recommend it if you feel like you are “burnt-out”
5. CREATE IF-THEN RULES FOR YOURSELF.
I learned this trick. You’re much more likely to follow through on your good intentions if you use if-then planning: if X happens, then I will do Y. The if-then allows you to decide your course of action in advance, before you’re tired, stressed, or swamped.
6. IF IT INCITES DECISION ANGST, DROP IT.
A few years ago, I dropped my BJ’s membership for this reason. I could never figure out when to go, and I thought about it a lot but still end up shopping at Aldi or Wegmans because it saved me extra 30-minute trip.
7. LIMIT YOUR OPTIONS.
Too many options are just as bad as not enough: We are happier and more productive when we consider fewer possibilities. One of my favorite books is Power Of Less. Where it taught me how powerful we can be with less choices
When it comes to fitness there is so many diet choices out there to lose weight and or gain muscle but sometimes, we get so overwhelmed with sources of information that we decide not to start anything at all. What I recommend is pick on diet but stick with it for 6 months I promise you that you will see results.
When I create diet programs for clients, I notice clients do much better with less choices because it counts out the energy to make a decisions.
