Simplify Your Daily Decision-Making
Simplification is usually a winning strategy. Despite this fact, we’re all in danger of spending too much time on the trivial and those day-to-day decisions that tend to take over. In this article, we give you some advice to help you simplify your daily decision-making.
Although you may not notice it, everyday decisions do cause some degree of stress. Sometimes, it might be because they’re taking your time away from more important issues. At other times, they create issues within themselves.
However, you can follow some rules and guidelines to simplify your daily decision-making. The ideal way is to clear your path of these trivial problems. This way, you can devote your energy to the issues that warrant it. Here’s how to do it.
“We’re hemmed round with mystery, and the greatest mysteries are contained in what we see and do every day.”
-Henri-Frédéric Amiel-
Three golden rules to simplify your daily decision-making
You can apply some rules to almost every situation, from shopping to time management. They’re simple and based on common sense.
The three golden rules for simplifying your day-to-day decisions are:
Identify and organize recurring decisions
You often find yourself at the same crossroads every day. For example, you ask yourself, what am I going to wear today? What can I cook for dinner tonight? These are just a couple of examples.
The best thing to do is identify these recurring decisions. Then, organize your solutions. For example, plan what you’re going to wear or cook every day of the week in advance. This will save you a lot of time and energy.
Forethought and planning
This is about thinking ahead. Work out the things you use and need for everyday life and make sure you have enough of them. This might be food, medicines, and other necessary supplies. The idea is to always have some at home, so you don’t have to rush out to buy more.
The same goes for the tasks you have to perform regularly, every week or month. For example, paying bills or controlling your budget. You should set aside an allotted time every week or month to do these tasks instead of carrying them out in a disorganized way.
The food rule
Feeding yourself is a basic need. Every day, you have to plan what you’re going to eat. If you don’t eat out, you have to make food. This takes up time and energy.
The golden rule here is that no meal should take you longer to make than it takes to eat it. On average, don’t spend more than 15 minutes cooking. How do you achieve this? The rule says that, if you set yourself that limit, you’ll gradually adjust to it.
Other ideas to simplify your daily decision-making
In order to implement these measures successfully and achieve the desired results, we recommend the following:
- Rules aren’t meant to unreasonably constrain you. They shouldn’t be like a straitjacket. For this reason, if a rule doesn’t seem to be working for you, ignore it.
- Rules improve your decisions but don’t account for unexpected events. In fact, on some occasions, they might make you use even more energy. For example, say you’ve arranged your outfits for the week. Then, your boss tells you there are some formal events you have go to,
- Rules work best when you’re flexible in applying them. If they work, that’s perfect. If not, you need to revise them. It’s your decision.
- Rules shouldn’t require willpower. They shouldn’t require superhuman efforts to comply with them. If this is the case, you need to revise them.
These rules are meant to simplify your daily decision-making and make your life easier. They help you organize your ideas. Furthermore, they help you to be aware of those trivial issues that can end up making you spend a lot of time.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
Aizpuru, P. G. (2006). Introducción a la historia de la vida cotidiana. El Colegio de México.
