There are a few things that you can do to reduce stress in your life by simplifying your decisions and avoiding something called decision fatigue.
I never realized that I was doing a few of these things, but in looking at my life overall I know that a few of my habits can make a big difference in your life.
Decision fatigue is a state where we just get tired from making decisions. Actually often these decision that seem very simple are just made over and over and are actually cluttering up our mind.
Probably the most famous example of this is Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook. Apparently the Zuck wears the exact same clothes every day and just has a bunch of the same shirts in his closet so he never has to think of what to wear. I know that this may be odd but it seems to work for him.
There are some simple hacks that make things easier.
Building A Couple Weeks Breakfasts Once
I have written before that breakfast is incredibly important for us for energy and health but the trouble for most people is that it is really hard to go ahead and make a really great and healthy breakfast each and every day.
What I have worked out is to make sure that I have the great breakfast I need every day.
I buy a big bulk bag of oatmeal, some sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, and flaked unsweetened coconut.
I make a big ziplock bag with this mix and then every weekday for a couple or weeks I know that I have a really nutritious breakfast that I will actually eat and enjoy every morning without having to think about, plan for, or schedule time to eat.
Planning All Your Snacks and Dinners
Snacking is another part of my diet that I really have to regiment. Left to my own devices I am sure it would be reduced to chocolate bars and ice cream.
I have a regular daily set of food that I bring along with me every single weekday. I have two fruits, one veggie, leftovers from last night, one granola bar, and one chocolate bar – yes chocolate has to be part of a well balanced diet 😉
The thing that makes this easy is that our grocery shopping is very methodical.
I am not sure if you have heard this fact but the outside edges of the grocery store are the best and the inside is the worst.
The outside of the grocery store is of course filled with the dairy, vegetables, fruit, meats. All the whole foods, fridge, and perishables.
The inside of the grocery store aisles are all the processed foods that are best to stay away from.
So when we shop we try and stick mostly to the outside with a menus plan for dinners for the week as well as knowing what we are going to get for snacks, all the fruits and vegetables.
After shopping we will wash the fruits and vegetables, like this is part of the shopping experience, and cut up and package the veggies for the week.
Prepping The Night Before
I don’t like to think early in the morning during the week so I always make sure that the night before that I have everything out for morning so I can just get ready, grab, and go.
I get all of my vitamins out, clothes, prep the coffee maker, and assemble my lunch in the fridge, the night before. I just take that little bit of time in the evening before bed to organize the day for tomorrow.
It works great for me and makes the morning very easy to get started.
I think of myself as a morning person but just by doing all that prepping means that I can just execute in the morning without much thought as to what has to be done.
Does Prepping and Planning Work?
I know that lots of people, me included rail against plans and processes as these ideas just seem to get rid of the spontaneity in life, turning us into robots and losing that flash of fun.
Really though I think that by getting rid of these decisions I am actually just really getting more of a chance to stop myself from getting tired from making stupid easy decisions and leaves me instead to make those decision when it matters most.
Of course all of these processes fall by the wayside on the weekend but I think I may have to make a few as I am not getting as much out of my life on the weekends as I wish I was.
excellent, but I would like to have video to listen.
my eyes and back get tired sitting too long