3475: [Part 2] Decision Automation: 5 Things I Do to Increase Willpower and Make Smart Choices by Tyler Tervooren

[00:00:00] Überlass deine gesunde Ernährung und die Gains nicht nur deinem Bauchgefühl. Denn bei der Ernährung gaukelt uns unser innerer Schweinehund manchmal ganz schön was vor. Sag stattdessen Hallo zu deinem neuen Coach, Yasio. Yasio ist die meistgenutzte Ernährungs-App Europas, made in Germany. Egal ob Massephase oder ein bisschen Abnehmen, tracke Kalorien, Proteine, Carbs, Fette, Bewegung und Intervallfasten. Und mit den Tasty-Rezepten bist du ready für deine Ziele. Let's go! Lade die Yasio-App jetzt herunter.

[00:00:30] This is Optimal Living Daily Decision Automation 5 Things I Do to Increase Willpower and Make Smart Choices Part 2 by Tyler Tervooren of Riscology.co and I'm Justin Malik. Welcome to OLD where I read articles to you with permission from the authors. But today's a continuation from yesterday so I'd recommend listening to yesterday's episode first. If you're all caught up let's get right to part two and continue optimizing your life.

[00:01:02] Decision Automation 5 Things I Do to Increase Willpower and Make Smart Choices Part 2 by Tyler Tervooren of Riscology.co Number two, create a daily to-do list for the rest of your life. Every productivity freak on the planet knows the importance of the daily to-do list and there are lots of rules for it.

[00:01:24] Do your important work first. Always underestimate how much you can do in a day. Make each task small and actionable. Blah blah blah. The rules are great. I subscribe to many of them. But do you notice how you often end up writing the same to-do's every day and having that same conversation with yourself about what to do first? That's wasted willpower right there. That's what's going to make you eat Cheetos at the end of the day when you know you're on a diet.

[00:01:50] You have recurring tasks in your life, but why think about them every day? Instead, create an automation system so you can think about them once and then just do them. I use Trello to organize my week. When it's time to sit down and work, I don't have to think about what work to do. I already did that. All I have to do is get started. If it's Wednesday, then I have seven things to do. Looks like I'm crossing one off now.

[00:02:16] Of course, there are things I need to do each day that aren't and can't be on this list, but that's okay because I now have plenty of willpower to make good decisions on the important work that falls outside the system. Number three, simplify your wardrobe. Except for a few additions for special occasions, the contents of my entire closet is five button-down shirts, five V-neck t-shirts, four pairs of pants, and one belt.

[00:02:45] In other words, too much. It's normal to enjoy variety, but this is a perfect example of places in your life where small decisions spiral out of control and empty your willpower account first thing in the morning, leaving insufficient funds for the bigger, more important things that come later. There was a time in my life when I stressed about what I would wear. That was, coincidentally, a time when nothing of major importance happened either.

[00:03:11] If you think the 10 minutes you spend staring at yourself in the mirror and second-guessing your underwear choice isn't taking away from the bigger things, think again. Truthfully, I still stress about what I'm going to wear. Instead of doing it every day, though, I now only do it when I go clothes shopping about once each year. I ask myself, does what I'm buying fit with everything else I already own? If the answer is yes, then I buy it. If it's no, then I don't. Automation.

[00:03:39] Today, I have a simple wardrobe that's infinitely flexible. Everything goes with everything else, so I can grab whatever I want on a moment's notice. I use the time I'd otherwise spend judging the pattern on my plaid shirt to think about how to make this article more fun for you to listen to. You're welcome. Number four, simplify your food choices. This is admittedly an area where I still struggle. Food is hard for me because I'm not good at thinking about it until I'm already hungry.

[00:04:08] That's when I make bad choices that damage my health and eat up willpower for other important things. But progress is being made. I've narrowed breakfast down to about four menu items and, for the most part, stick to them based on the day of the week. If it's Monday, then I'm eating an apple with peanut butter. If it's Thursday, then it's eggs. There's much work left to be done on the rest of the day, but I know the system works because breakfast is an incredibly stress-free meal for me.

[00:04:36] In this effort, I can give most credit to my wife, a woman who values variety in her food choices, but also carefully plans our menu out a week at a time. Using her system, my diet is much cleaner than it used to be. Number five, schedule your social interactions. If it's before 5 p.m., then I am working and I'm not out with friends. If it's not Friday to Sunday, then I'm not in a meeting with anyone who isn't on my immediate team.

[00:05:03] As an introvert, these rules are mandatory for me. I'm constantly fretting about not being good at relationships and simultaneously getting invitations to midday events and requests for meetings I feel like I should be at. If I get an email invite to a party, I can spend an hour or more thinking about whether or not to go and how to respond. But with my automation rules, I know exactly what my answer will be. This strikes the perfect balance for me.

[00:05:31] I can work through the day, my most productive hours, and still make plenty of time for my friends and other colleagues. In fact, it creates more time for them because I don't waste an hour in the middle of the day worrying about how to respond to an invite. If it falls inside of work hours, the answer is, that sounds fun, but I can't make it. Can you do insert time that does work instead? I'm also careful not to squeeze too much interaction into any given week.

[00:05:58] I know if I go out two nights in a row, the next day is useless. If I overdo it one week, I clam up and don't want to be social for several weeks to come. These social automation rules keep the important work on track and keep my relationships strong by ensuring I never stress about them. Do this in the next 10 minutes. You have too many decisions to make and not enough willpower to avoid decision fatigue.

[00:06:24] If you want to keep your focus on your most important work and be a leader to the people who depend on you, then you need a system to automate the small and predictable things that get in the way. Build a morning sequence, create a daily to-do list for the rest of your life, simplify your wardrobe, simplify your food choices, and schedule your social interactions. These are a few parts of my life I automate each day. They've made me a happier, more productive person who doesn't stress about the small things.

[00:06:55] You can't do all five of these things today, but you can do one. So pick the one that seems easiest and test it out for a week. The next time a life-changing decision comes up, you're going to make the right call. And it won't matter what clothes you're wearing, when you make it. You just listened to part two of the post titled, Decision Automation, Five Things I Do to Increase Willpower and Make Smart Choices,

[00:07:23] by Tyler Tavorin of Riskology.co. And I'll be right back with my commentary. Thank you again to Tyler. The wardrobe one comes really easy to me because honestly, I really just don't care that much. I work from home, so I get that it can be easier for me and that my coworkers aren't seeing that I'm basically cycling. They're just three to four pairs of pants, often wearing pajamas while I'm working, and only a handful of t-shirts.

[00:07:51] Maybe you're more self-conscious about that at work. Corny Carver of Project 333, and an author I've read here multiple times before, has said that when she pared down her closet to only 33 items, including accessories, so really a small wardrobe, and she worked with other people, it really seems like nobody noticed. And in fact, because that collection was well curated, meaning she took the time to really pick those 33 items that she wanted to wear,

[00:08:20] if anything, she got compliments. Joshua of the Minimalist says the same thing, that whenever he's doing a talk and looking out at the audience, he feels like the ones that are best dressed in the room are the same ones that say they've already minimized their wardrobe. It's an interesting phenomenon and worth thinking about. But Tyler's got a bunch of other worthwhile tips in this article to think about, so do consider those. Have a great rest of your day, and I'll see you tomorrow, where your optimal life awaits.