💡 How to avoid decision fatigue

The weekly newsletter that helps people be more successful at work, by enjoying it more.

Hi Reader! 👋

Last week was a great week to be a Dodgers fan. Next week will be a rollercoaster, I'm sure. Let's try to enjoy the ride.

There's nothing routine about the power of routines.

Human beings are funny. We like BEING ABLE to make our own decisions. But we don't actually like making decisions.

"Decision fatigue" is well-documented — we get worse at making decisions as the day goes on. Not only that, it leads to cognitive overload, stress, and anxiety.

This is why (as much as we complain about them) we are attracted to meetings and email. They are both instances of someone else making decisions for us. Sweet, sweet inbox — tell me what to do next.

Being reactive is EASIER than being proactive.

Want to move fast, and make ourselves look super-human with our ability to accomplish things? The secret is routines.

Often, when I talk about making work more fun, I talk about the importance of novelty. Mixing things up keeps things exciting. And on the surface, it seems like embracing routines is contradictory advice. Nope. "Embracing monotony" would be contradictory advice. A routine doesn't have to be monotonous. "Read for an hour immediately after eating dinner" is a healthy routine. "Read the same thing every day" would be monotonous.

Last week, I heard an interview with Seth Godin where he said, "a routine is a decision not made." It drives me crazy how good he is at clearly articulating smart things.

Everyone's routines are different. Some morning people like to get up at 4:30am to go through a series of routines. Some people have built a routine to get into the groove of deep work by doing 50 jumping jacks, then jumping right into a project. Some people block off different days of the week to focus on different activities.

No need to copy what other people's routines are — just copy the power of having a routine. There is tremendous energy and power (and speed!) that comes with not having to make a decision what to do next.

One more example — for me, writing this newsletter is a routine. I have time set up weekly and this is simply what I do. I also have backup time set up, for when something gets in the way of my original time. (Which happens all the time.) I don't have to think about when I should do it, or if I should do it. I simply do it.

Routines keep us in control, and relieve us of control at the same time. And this makes our brains very very happy.

This week's creative thinking workout:

Musical Brainstorms

I love music so very much. It has a magical ability to affect our moods and thoughts.

So it's natural that we'll come up with different kinds of ideas when listening to different types of music.

The main point of a creative thinking workout is to create conditions where we think of ideas we wouldn't have otherwise. And that's what we'll do via a "musical brainstorm."

It's an easy one. Block off 30 minutes to attack an important challenge. (Or however much time works schedule-wise. Remix this approach, as needed.)

Then build a 30-minute playlist with radically different styles of music. Especially if some of them are unfamiliar (or even unlikable).

Ideally, switch it up every 3-4 minutes or so.

A helpful, but not-even-close-to-exhaustive list of possibilities:

Classical Music
Instrumental Jazz
Lo-Fi Music
Upbeat Pop
EDM
World Music
Psychedelic Music
Heavy Metal (or try Death Metal for something really different)
Blues
Film Scores
Folk
Hip-Hop
Minimalist Classical (e.g., Philip Glass)
Oldies
Acoustic Guitar or Piano
Reggae or Ska
Indie Rock
Opera
Bluegrass
Silence or White Noise

Then, pop headphones on and go. Stay focused on generating ideas to solve whatever challenge is most interesting at the moment.

But also, notice how the different styles of music poke the brain in different ways.

Let's crush this week,
-Tim-

Let's Lightbulb - Founder / CEO / Crusher of Soulcrushers

Let's Lightbulb specializes in "creative solution sprints" for leadership teams. We help teams create solutions and action plans for their biggest challenges in hours, not months. And have a lot of fun doing it.

The bulk of our business comes from referrals. Who do you know that would find this valuable?

Every week in this newsletter, I share tips on how to reduce the stuff that makes our work not-fun, and increase the stuff that makes work fun — plus a "creativity workout" to help develop stronger creative solutions.

Thanks for reading, and please share with friends and colleagues that might like it — because we need more fun people in the world.

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Crushing the Soulcrushers

💡 How to avoid decision fatigue

There's nothing routine about the power of routines.

This week's creative thinking workout:

💡 Don't over-think. Don't under-think.

💡 Fixing a Glitchy Focus Switch

💡 How to fight "not feeling it"