Why does the mail (e or snail) pile up? The clothes closet go unsorted? Why is there food in my pantry that is older than my nieces and nephew?

I’m thankful to behavioral scientists for providing me with an out…I mean an explanation. Decision fatigue. Our brains grow literally weary of making choices, even seemingly simple ones. At the end of a jam-packed workday, who wants to hear “what do you want to do for dinner”? During COVID-19, we are faced with more, not less, decisions as we have to find new ways to accomplish everyday tasks. My educator friends went from one day teaching in person in classrooms to the next teaching totally online. Talk about a learning curve!

A decision hack

I’m all about learning new things, but can we reduce some of the decisions we have to make to prevent decision fatigue and the resulting pile up of both physical and mental clutter? There’s a straightforward solution, though it may not sound appealing: rules. Make rules for yourself to reduce decision making. Steve Jobs wore the same black turtleneck, blue jeans and New Balance sneakers every day to eliminate some small decisions. It freed his mind for more important things. Not being Steve Jobs, I have rules for things like seat belts (I always put one on when I get in any vehicle) and keys (go on the hook by the door as I come through it). But it’s the same principle—making some things automatic frees us up for the choices we do want to have the energy left to make.

Improving our new reality

When you find your daily life has been completely disrupted—say by retiring, starting to work from home, or maybe having all of your regularly scheduled activities canceled by COVID-19—the newfound freedom can be intoxicating! When I transitioned to working from my home office, I was so delighted by this freedom, I didn’t want to put any constraints on it. I would do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted! It didn’t take long to discover that I wasn’t actually doing much of anything. Too many choices led to not making any. It turns out that, when we’re avoiding making decisions and commitments, it is easy to spend time scrolling through screens or watching TV. And the most accessible are some of our least gratifying pastimes.

A few constraints make for a much more satisfying day. For example, you might set a bedtime and a wake-up time, have a rule for what time you’ll “arrive” in your home office. I try to have breakfast at about the same time each morning and have an end-time for work. Colleagues have teased me for years about eating the same thing, day after day. But eating the same breakfast and lunch is my version of Steve Jobs’ dress code. It not only eliminates the decisions about what to eat for those two meals, but a cascade of meal prep and grocery shopping decisions, too. The same stuff is always on the grocery list.

Habit stacking

Developing a few rules also gives you an opportunity to practice habit stacking. While some rules are time of day or location dependent, BJ Fogg created the habit stacking method to give us an obvious clue to trigger a habit. For example, every time I come in from outside, I wash my hands. This new COVID-19 behavior is a variation of an old habit—washing my hands before preparing food. Linking a new behavior, decision free, to an existing habit can be a beautiful thing! Habit stacking makes my morning routine—coffee, stretching, making the bed—flow effortlessly. Left to my own devices, there’s no telling if the stretching or bed making would even happen most days (coffee has its own triggers!).

The rules and habits you create not only simplify your days, they free up mental energy to make decisions. You know, like “do I really need to go to Costco to shop?” and “when do I need to keep my face covered?” While we’re sheltering in place, we’re faced with a whole new many branched decision tree that has grown out of what used to be one choice—for example, whether or not go to the grocery store. These are challenging times. Let’s give ourselves every break we can!

Need to do some habit stacking and put some rules around your financial life? I’m here to help! Give me a call (336-701-2612) or send me a message.

Investment advisor representative of and investment advisory services offered through Garrett Investment Advisors, LLC, a fee-only SEC registered investment advisor. Tel: (910) FEE-ONLY. Fair Winds Financial Advice may offer investment advisory services in the States of North Carolina and Texas and in other jurisdictions where exempted.