What's one decision you can make today that will save you from making 10 more decisions in the future? Make the choice that eliminates other choices.
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Keep your wardrobe simple. Steve Jobs famously wore a black turtleneck, blue jeans and sneakers. By reducing your choices, what to wear every day becomes one less decision to make. My wardrobe is tiny. I mostly wear jeans and hiking boots (we live in the country).
We're notoriously bad at food shopping and deciding what to eat each day. I created a weekly menu. Soup Monday, Fish Tuesday, Meat Wednesday, Veggie Thursday, Fish Friday, Curry Saturday, Chicken Sunday. It makes the weekly shop and meal planning much easier.
I like to spend some time every weekend planning the next week. I have a series of printables that I use to plot my outputs. I time block daily activities in my Calendar. Each weekday I do the same thing. Monday: headlines, Tuesday: writing, Wednesday: photos, Thursday: proofreading, Friday: editing/scheduling.
I set up a lot of rules to manage my email. Anything that I class as a newsletter is marked as read and filtered into my Read Later folder, finance-related goes into Financial, certain recurring items automatically filter into Action. I filter by email account, too, so I can quickly see important emails.
I operate with a few different email addresses. It's easy to get subscribed to a newsletter using the 'wrong' email address. My email account filter system (see above) works for me because it highlights where I've accidentally used the wrong address. I always update my preferences. I like my email to be streamlined!
I use Twos as my task manager. It's a bit quirky, great for lists, and works well if you're a writer. I created a few different lists. Some include birthday reminders, renewal reminders. These are all annual recurring events. Taking some time to set up these lists means several fewer things to think about!
I like remembering birthdays. I keep a list in Twos and I also have a birthday book as a back up. At the beginning of each month, I make a list of cards and gifts to buy. I have a calendar on my study wall with pockets. I keep future cards there. If I spot a card that is perfect for someone later in the year, I always buy it now.
I love snail mail and writing letters. I have an A5 wallet which contains writing paper, cards, postcards, notelets, washi tape, a pen and stamps. All in one place, I don't have to scout around if I want to write a letter.
My husband is blind. Should anything happen to me, someone would need to help him with paperwork and finances. I bought three lever arch binders. One for me, one for Chris, one for the house. Every last bit of paperwork is there, together with various instructions.
I keep a couple of trackers - one for weekly goals and another for self-care. Each day I see what I need to tick off the list, and maintaining the streak keeps me accountable.
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