As I've mentioned before, I absolutely love the idea of lists, goals, and self-assessment. So when I heard of the concept of decision fatigue, I became obsessed! Decision fatigue is basically the idea that you become more tired after making too many decisions, and then you make poor or irrational decisions because of it. Instances of this in my life are many, and include:
-Why I can't make myself do the dishes at night. Because I'm so tired (I'm definitely a morning person) and I can't force myself to make the right decision to do the dishes, so I make the easy (irrational) choice.
-Why I sometimes look at my meal plan for the week and decide I hate everything on it and that we should just eat out all week (or, alternatively, eat grilled cheese and pancakes the rest of the week). Making a new meal can be a hard decision to make/follow-through, whereas the decision to make pancakes (and the process of making them) is so ingrained in me that it's easy!
I love the idea of making most of my decisions super easy, and making myself happier in the process. I've been listening to the Gretchen Rubin podcasts lately and I'm sure I'll post on those eventually too. But first, here are my ideas to implement so I make fewer decisions. Also known as...how I plan to become a robot so I always make the right choice and don't hesitate! I love reading blog posts like this from other people, so I guess that's why I'm writing these down. And so I can look back on it later!
-Do my hair the same way every weekday. When I realized I should do this, it was a major lightbulb moment. I have never had a go-to hair style, and because of that, I don't really know how to do my hair well or what looks good on me. But I did start noticing that if my bangs aren't pinned back somehow, it drives me nuts all day. So I decided that every weekday I will wear my hair straight with bangs back somehow and that's it. That way, I can begin to perfect my regular hairstyle! I still branch out on the weekends when I have more time to get ready.
-Put snacks in tupperware in the fridge. Okay, I haven't implemented this yet, but I do plan to! I think I've always had this goal, but I've never had a side-by-side fridge until now, so I can finally see my food rather than bending down all the time. If I keep fruits and veggies in the fridge in tupperware, I hope that it will be a no-brainer decision to just eat them!
-Keep the house clean all day long. This obviously involves a bunch of mini-decisions but I think it will add up to far less decision making overall! I've started following Gretchen Rubin's "1-minute rule" where if a task takes less than a minute, you do it right away. For me, this means
*putting dishes in the sink right after we use them
*picking up Roy's toys and my own things whenever I leave a room
*.....maybe that's it! But in general, just picking up and wiping things down, and cleaning up little by little.
The reason this one is so important to me is that the messier my house gets, the more able I am to live with just a bit more mess, and the less motivation I have to clean up anything. So if there are dishes in the sink, then it doesn't matter if I leave a mess on the table, or don't sweep the floor, etc. Whereas if my house is clean except for dinner dishes, it's a no-brainer decision to do the last of the dinner dishes before bed to keep the house all clean!
I'm still working on all of these, and trying to implement even more automatic things to reduce my decision fatigue. But I can say already that these are working wonders!
This is why you need your mother to move in with you: I will cook, clean, and play with Roy all Day!!!
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