We complain about lacking time, but what we really lack are effective systems.
Your morning routine—brushing teeth, getting dressed—happens without deliberation. No decision fatigue. Yet that email sitting in your inbox? You read, close, reopen, agonize, and postpone. Mental energy drains with each reconsideration.
Research from the American Psychological Association indicates that the average adult makes approximately 35,000 decisions daily. Each one depletes your mental resources. As Dr. Roy Baumeister discovered in his landmark studies on willpower, “Making decisions uses the very same willpower that you use to say no to doughnuts, drugs, or illicit sex.”
Systems eliminate decisions. They’re pre-made choices that run automatically.
Steve Jobs wore the same outfit daily. Barack Obama restricted his suit colors to blue and gray. (except once where Obama wore a tan suit and that was a headline.) Both eliminated wardrobe decisions to preserve mental capacity for meaningful work.
For recurring problems, create decision protocols. When X happens, you’ll always do Y. No deliberation required.
The paradox: constraints create freedom. Fewer choices mean more cognitive bandwidth for what truly matters.
Don’t build better to-do lists. Build better systems.
