Limit Your Choices.
The modern world is full of choice, it's one of the fantastic benefits of living in such a prosperous time.
That given all of this choice leads to mental fatigue in two ways, firstly from the share volume of “noise” we have to process secondly from the actual act of having to choose.
Our minds are fairly complex entities that process and store information to make our lives easier, the more times we encounter a situation the more our thought patterns become automated until eventually you no longer have to think about not touching fire as you know it's hot.
As we expose our self to new situations our minds must make a series of calculations and process the new incoming information before we decide what action we need to take. The more choice that is presented to us the more our mind has to work to process all of the new incoming information. Think of a simple example like browsing for a new phone on the internet you get bombarded with technical specifications, manufacturer exclusive content, colour, cost upfront cost per month.
You are making cost-benefit evaluations the whole time and even having to learn new information (what’s an OLED ??) to plug into the calculation. Eventually, it becomes exhausting and you end up looking on Quora or YouTube for a recommendation.
There is a reason why some stores are now accepting their bricks and mortar existence is to simply help consumers pick the right model before buying it online.
On an average day consider how many choices you make? 10, 20 well it could be over a few thousand. Think of all of that wasted brainpower that could be focused on a project or something you enjoy.
I’m sure you have seen from Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg used to only have grey and blue clothes in his wardrobe, this was to eliminate the need to choose what to wear and free up additional brainpower, now you can't argue that the leader of the free world needed all of the focus (maybe our nootropics could help) he could get but we don’t for a moment suggest you live entirely in muted shades and polo shirts.
Not only is their mental capacity created by eliminating choice it will also help you stick to your goals. If you have a healthy balanced meal ready prepared in the fridge you are much less likely to call for a pizza. If you go into the gym knowing exactly what you are going to do you are much less likely to spend 45 minutes posting #gymselfies from the elliptical trainer.
Look for areas of your life where you can automate and limit choice with the objective of reaching your goals, plan meals once a week, download a 12- week workout program for the gym, limit browsing aimlessly online.
We don’t propose you limit all choices, it's what makes being human fun. Being judicious about what you choose to choose, may just free up some additional brain capacity for something much more interesting and help you achieve more.