Conserving Mental Energy

Conserving Mental(ˈmentl) Energy(ˈenərjē)

By Steve Pavlina

In a Vanity(ˈvanətē) Fair(fe(ə)r) profile(ˈprōˌfīl) piece(pēs) from 2012, writer Michael Lewis(ˈlo͞o-is) shared some of President(ˈprez(ə)dənt,ˈprezəˌdent) Obama’s productivity habits.

One of those habits involved routinizing(ro͞oˈtēˌnīz,ˈro͞otnˌīz) mundane(ˌmənˈdān) daily decisions. Since Obama has to make many difficult high-level decisions each day, he doesn’t want to waste(wāst) his mental energy on smaller decisions. So he puts the mundane choices on autopilot(ˈpīlət).

For instance(ˈinstəns), the article states that Obama only wears blue and gray(grā) suits(so͞ot). He keeps his wardrobe(ˈwôrˌdrōb) choices simple, so he doesn’t bleed(blēd) off mental energy fussing(fəs) over what to wear.

Obama follows the same structured daily routine(ro͞oˈtēn) when he’s in the White House: Get up at 7am, go to the gym(jim) and exercise for 45 minutes, shower, get dressed(dres), eat breakfast(ˈbrekfəst), glance(glans) through the newspapers, review the daily security(siˈkyo͝oritē) briefing(ˈbrēfiNG), and then head to the Oval Office(ˈōvəl). In the evenings his family goes to bed around 10pm, but he stays up till 1am working solo(ˈsōlō), including preparing for the next day.

Much of his actual work involves making decisions. The easy decisions are made by others, so the ones that reach him are usually the tough(təf) ones; they’re the types of decisions that don’t have obvious(ˈäbvēəs) correct(kəˈrekt) answers. Such decisions require careful thought and often involve difficult trade-offs(trād) and significant(sigˈnifikənt) risk(risk). Making these decisions is a key responsibility.

To conserve his mental energy for thoughtfully considering options and making decisions, Obama does his best to avoid wasting(wāst) this energy on low-impact decisions like what to eat or what to wear. He either lets other people make those simpler decisions for them, or he makes those decisions once and puts them on autopilot, so he doesn’t have to think about them repeatedly.

How much mental energy do you squander(ˈskwändər) on low-priority decisions each day? Could you make those decisions once and put them on autopilot?

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https://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2014/02/conserving-mental-energy/