I’m embarrassed to say this, but I spent nearly 1 hour looking for the “right” movie to watch. Decision paralysis is real. Movies aside, I think this is one of the main reasons to have fewer decisions.

Same Idea Rebranded

Reducing decision fatigue has been a trendy topic for ten years (or more) now. The “Minimalism” documentary in 2015 kicked off the fad. I was one of the people that fell in love with the idea. Marie Kondo’s book “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” has been around even longer (since 2010), but it didn’t spark joy until it peaked in popularity and got picked up by Netflix that made the show “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo”.

But minimalism is just another idea with some rebranding. Essentialism is essentially the same thing. “Essentialism” by Greg McKeown has been around since 2014. I do believe it conveys the idea with a bit more clarity: There’s a difference between simply owning less and only owning what’s essential.

I’d say “minimalism” is culturally understood by most people, but “essentialism” is the philosophy people needed to embrace.

It’s All About Decision Fatigue

But what I think we all need is less decision fatigue and that’s what all of this boils down to.

Life is complicated. It’s stressful enough with big life events. Day-to-day, these small decisions add up. Most of the time, they don’t really matter and we don’t really mind making them. But then along comes major life events, like losing your job, having a kid, or losing a loved family member or pet, and that’s when those small decisions feel like gnats.

If we compare those small things to paying bills, then making decisions like what clothes to wear, or when to work out, is the equivalent of getting a bill in the mail and then manually paying each bill. You can certainly choose to do that, but do you really need to spend dedicated time to your bills? You do know that you’re not going to get that time back, right?

Reducing decision fatigue is then like putting your bills on autopay through your bank. You get your bill and it gets paid on time without you having to think about it.

Back when Mark Zuckerberg was less of an unlikeable guy, there were several articles about why he (and other prominent figures) choose to wear the same outfit every day. Each of those articles will refer to decision fatigue, the concept that decision quality deteriorates as quantity goes up.

Put another way, the more you can “automate” the boring parts of your life, the more energy you can dedicate to the quality things. Isn’t that what a quality life is all about? Spending quality time on quality things?

I think that’s why the more recent iteration of all of these ideas, “Atomic Habits” by James Clear in 2018, has also been such a success. There are so many things in life that are much better off as habits. Things that you do on autopilot. No extra thinking required.

Details in the Implementation

All these ideas differ in one key aspect. The implementation:

  • Minimalism: If you literally own less, then you have fewer decisions to make.
  • Marie Kondo: How exactly do you own less things in your home (and keep it organized)?
  • Essentialism: Same idea as minimalism, but fewer things = fewer decisions.
  • Atomic Habits: Make everything into a habit so you don’t need to think about it. Habit = no decision needed.

Ultimately, you just need to do what works for you. Adapt what you read and learn about to your lifestyle and to what makes you happy.

Example with Clothes

I did this with my clothes and so far I’ve gone through nearly four iterations.

Version 1: I loved the idea of wearing the same outfit. So I got a few of the same white shirt and wore that all the time. Was I happy with the exact same outfit day-after-day. No. I wanted some variety.

Version 2: I changed to a capsule wardrobe. I got a few pants and shirts that all worked well no matter the combination. Was I happy with exactly one of each article of clothing. No. After a year of that, I still got tired of it. And I still didn’t see the variety I wanted. And I still had favorites.

Version 3(ish): Then I tried abandoning it all. Screw this minimalism nonsense. This was also short-lived. I disliked making sure the color of my shirt, hoodie, and pants didn’t match. I certainly couldn’t wear the exact same blue color shirt and hoodie and that was a decision I needed to make.

Version 4: The most recent iteration I created two capsule wardrobes. One for spring and summer and another for fall and winter. By the time I get tired of one set of clothes (around 6 months), I get to rotate them out. I get the variety I want without the decision fatigue.

I can’t say the system is perfect yet, but I’m happier with it. And isn’t that what matters, your own happiness?

Cliché Advice

Seriously, in the end, it’s your life, your time, and your happiness. Just do what makes you happy.

To anyone interested, I ended up choosing to watch “Free Guy” (again). Definitely recommend it if you haven’t watched it.