Coping with decision fatigue \ stacker news ~alter

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200 sats \ 13 comments \ @cryotosensei 7 Feb alter_native

Mark Zuckerberg is famous for wearing the same shirt every day. He said that he wanted to save his cognitive energy on more significant decisions for his work.

When I first read about this news, I snorted and thought to myself, how extreme are you gonna get? Wearing the same shirt seemed like an extraordinarily boring lifestyle to me, so I wasn’t going to emulate him.

Life circumstances change, with me having to wake up at 5.30am to do household chores. So, I have a washing machine-cum-dryer at home. Every morning, I fold the laundry before stepping out of the house.

This Monday, I thought I would try something novel. I wore my shirt and pants five days to school in a row. That way, I wouldn’t have to fold my shirt and pants. One less thing to do!

Guess what? None of my students and colleagues noticed and commented on it! So, I should just continue doing it to streamline my morning routine: wear the same shirt and pants for five days straight. That way, I will get to enjoy fashion and exhibit my personality since I will think harder about choosing my outfit for the following week. This is unlike Mark Zuckerberg who has given up on this aspect of life. The best of both worlds, maybe?

What have you done to reduce the number of decisions you have to make every day? What benefits have you reaped?

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45 sats \ 1 reply \ @IamSINGLE 8 Feb

This is another "fatigue" post today..#878390 All of fatigue can be disposed off in ~healthandfitness ;)

I've a simple strategy to overcome decision fatigue. I leave my no so important decisions on others. Like I don't shop for myself, my parents or someone else does. It was 6 or 7 years ago when I'd spend the whole day in market just because I wanted to find the rarest fashion. But I learnt that it was just a time waster

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei OP 8 Feb

Your parents must have good taste for you to entrust your fashion wardrobe to them 😌

48 sats \ 1 reply \ @Blank 8 Feb

I had a math teacher in high school who used to wear the same outfit every single day. The students in my class noticed this, started keeping track, and even made a graph of it—a great way to teach kids statistics, I guess!

I'm a minimalist, and avoiding decision fatigue is part of that. All of my clothes are black, and whenever I try to branch out and buy other colors, I always end up going back to black. At this point in my life, it’s a part of who I am. I also eat the same breakfast and lunch every single day—the only thing I change up is my dinner.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei OP 8 Feb

The plotting of graphs is LOL.

Have you thought about buying the same design in multiple colours? Just curious.

I don’t think I can eat the same breakfast and lunch every day. Though this year, I have started the habit of buying two days’ worth of bread from the bakery, this not only gives me a plastic bag, but also removes the need for me to decide every morning haha

48 sats \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker 8 Feb

For me, this works out in being willing to pay extra money for convenience. Like going to a slightly more expensive gas station rather than drive further / wait in line for the cheap one. It also means just ordering delivery if I'm strapped for time and not worrying about the money. Or just paying for stuff at the airport rather than thinking of how to pack it.

At this stage in life, the savings that could be achieved by being more attentive to goods prices is quite minimal compared to daily swings in asset prices / bitcoin prices. So I reserve my attention for the bigger financial decisions and stop worrying about the smaller ones.

30 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei OP 8 Feb

I agree. Being so preoccupied with petty cents arises from a scarcity mindset. Better to pay extra for convenience n think about how to upscale my income.

Though I have to confess that I love depositing my preloved books and papers at the recycling machine - in spite of the trouble - because I enjoy making petty cents out of nothing haha

24 sats \ 2 replies \ @flat24 8 Feb

This, although it looks like a smallness. It is a significant aspect.

At the end of the day, time is the most valuable and scarce humans. Any style that leads you to optimize its management must be studied and proven.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryotosensei OP 8 Feb

Time is not just money, but also peace of mind

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @flat24 8 Feb

Totally agree, thanks to mention it.

24 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined 7 Feb

I'm sure there are a bunch of things that I could put here, but what immediately comes to mind are all the food restrictions I impose at the grocery store. I don't have to decide between all the different nearly identical products, because pretty much none of them meet my criteria. I just buy the one that does or, at worst, have to choose between a couple.

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryotosensei OP 8 Feb

How long did it take for you to arrive at this criteria? Since college?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 8 Feb

To an extent, but I'm always learning and reevaluating my standards.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Kontext 8 Feb

David Lynch had a similar thing about food:

"Habit in the daily routine and then, when there's some sort of order there, then you're free to mentally go off [to] any place - you got a safe sort of foundation and a place to spring off from. The purer the environment the more fantastic the interior world can be - it seems to me."

I'm kind of in the same boat in regards to food / groceries. I always get more or less the same stuff - steak, eggs, sourdough, butter, coconut oil, avocados, greek yoghurt, honey, nuts, coconut water, sometimes some dark chocolate.

I guess the other thing I do is just not plan too much of my day - but rather go with the flow or what I'm feeling like doing in the moment. If it's a sunny day and I don't wanna be indoors, I'll go to a beach - today. I'm not planning to go to beach on the weekend or whatever. If it's 2 AM but I'm behind the computer working on something and in the zone - I'll continue working. I won't worry about it being 2 AM and how and when I'm gonna wake up tomorrow (mostly - very rarely I do have some place to be / thing to do at a specific time - in which case I can definitely get anxious).