I had friends who spent time picking out cuff links, matching ties to socks, turning heads with trendy shirts. I know those friends wouldn’t trade in time shopping for the world. Wasted time? No, they loved that time.
But for me, I started thinking about other things instead of thinking about what to wear.
How much time was I spending making decisions every day?
And which ones weren’t important?
The most exhausting idea I’ve ever had
I decided to spend an entire day writing down every decision I made and then looking at which decisions I wanted to chop out of my life. Ben outsourced his clothing decisions! What could I outsource? This is the first step to understanding which decisions you can chop. An annoying process. But worth it. Here is every decision I made in one day:
Should I get up now or sleep a few more minutes?
Should I get up now or sleep a few more minutes?
Should I get up to go to the bathroom?
Should I have a glass of ice water or jump right in the shower?
Should I go to the gym?
Should I have a shower here or at the gym?
Do I have time to go to the gym before work if I leave now?
Should I eat breakfast after or make a shake for the car?
Should I put cinnamon in my shake?
Should I put yogurt in my shake?
Should I put spinach in my shake?
Should I put vitamin D in my shake?
Should I wear my work clothes to the gym and then change into my workout clothes there or wear my workout clothes to the gym and carry a hanger with all my work clothes on them?
What should I wear today?
Are these pants still clean?
Do these socks match this shirt?
Should I wear my brown belt or my black belt?
Which shirt should I wear?
Is this shirt too wrinkly?
Should I check email quickly now, in case there’s anything urgent?
Should I respond to this email now or when I get to work?
What should I say to this email?
What should I say to this email?
Do I need a hat today?
Do I need a scarf today?
Should I wear brown shoes or black shoes?
Should I put my clothes in my trunk or in my front seat?
Should I listen to the radio or have quiet in the car?
Which station should I listen to?
Which route should I take to work today?
Should I listen for the traffic report in case there’s an accident or just assume the highway is empty this time of the day?
Should I turn right on Queen Street or take Spadina to the Gardiner?
Should I try to pass this streetcar at the light or just stay behind it?
Should I turn left on Jameson to get to the highway or continue on Queen?
Should I turn left at Parkside to get to the highway or continue on Queen?
Should I gun it on this yellow light?
Should I turn left at Islington to get to the highway or continue on the Queensway?
Should I check email at this red light?
Should I check email at this red light?
Should I check email at this red light?
Should I turn left at Kipling to get to the highway or continue on the Queensway?
Should I check email at this red light?
Should I call Leslie to see if she woke up with her alarm clock?
Should I call anybody else?
Should I check my calendar for the day?
Should I park at the front door for convenience or far away to get extra exercise?
Should I change in this aisle or the aisle at the back of the locker room?
Should I take a full locker or a half-locker?
Do I need to lose weight around my stomach?
Do I need to shave today?
Do I look good?
Should I take a towel for my workout?
Should I do cardio or weights, or see if there’s a class going on?
Should I warm up on the StairMaster, treadmill, elliptical, exercise bike, rowing machine, or step machine?
How long should I set the time for?
Should I enter my age and weight or try to skip this?
Should I pick Manual, Hill, Random, Fat Burn, Cardio, Interval Training, or Fitness Test?
Should I keep going past five minutes or stop and do weights?
Did I sweat on the machine enough to get paper towels and spray to clean it?
Should I start weights with free weights or with a machine?
Should I look up a workout on my phone or just wing it?
What exercise should I do?
Should I do squats on the rack or with dumbbells?
Should I do three sets or try for four sets?
Should I get water or keep going?
What exercise should I do now?
Is this bench inclined enough or should I set it back a notch or two?
How much weight should I use?
Should I warm up first?
Should I do three sets or try for four?
Should I get water or keep going?
What exercise should I do now?
Should I say hi to Jackie?
Does Jackie want to talk or is she in intense-workout mode?
Should I check my email?
What exercise should I do now?
Should I focus on my chest or try to make this a full-body workout?
Should I look up other chest exercises on my phone?
Should I do dips, Pec Deck, chest flies, bench press, incline bench press, or decline bench press?
Are there other chest exercises on another website that I’m forgetting?
Should I lay my towel on the bench or leave it to the side?
How much weight should I try?
Should I increase the weight?
Should I get water now or later?
Should I check my email?
Should I try for twelve reps or twenty reps?
Should I increase the weight?
Should I check my email?
Should I call it a workout or try to do another chest exercise?
Should I do dips, Pec Deck, bench press, incline bench press, or decline bench press?
How much weight should I do on Pec Deck?
Do I need to change this seat height?
Do I need to change this starting position for the handles?
Should I get water now?
Should I check my email?
Should I check my email?
Should I read this email?
Should I respond to this email?
What should I say to this email?
Should I do another exercise or finish off with abs?
Should I do planks or situps?
Should I do front plank or side plank or both?
How long should I try to go for?
Should I try to do that again or switch to side planks?
How long should I try to go for?
Do I need to clean my sweaty head print off the mat?
How should I clean up my sweaty head print off the mat?
Should I weigh myself?
Should I get a drink of water?
Should I check my email?
Should I get another towel for a bathmat on this locker room floor?
Should I leave my clothes here or lock them up while I shower?
Should I sit in the steam room or whirlpool before I shower?
Which shower has the best water pressure again?
Which hook should I leave my towel on?
Should I shampoo my hair?
Should I dry off here or outside the showers?
Should I spray that foot spray on my feet or forget it?
Should I fold my gym clothes or just stuff them in my bag?
Should I check the class schedule on my way out?
Should I have a protein shake?
Should I leave my protein shake container in the car or go wash it inside at work?
Should I try to find parking in the front lot or head straight to the back lot?
Should I check email now?
Do I have any dry cleaning to take in?
Should I check email now?
Should I get water and go to the bathroom or set up my computer?
Should I go say hi to my boss?
Should I check email now?
What should I focus my time on today?
Should I check email now?
Should I check voicemail now?