This is week two, and normally I would move to the next question. The challenge of asking myself what energy level is still going, but it makes me think about other things. There are days I woke up with the energy to tackle anything, including tough decisions. But it also exposed days that I struggled with energy that I did not want to make any decisions complex or simple.
Decision making is an interesting part of daily life. From what to do when you get up, to what you chose to wear, what to eat etc. These decisions can be seen in two ways. First, they can be seen as unnecessary decisions and taking energy from you. By making many of these choices during the day you lack the energy to make tougher ones. There are people who try to remove these decisions from their lives. People like Einstein, Steve Jobs and others had one outfit and thus cut that decision out.
There are people who meal prep, like me and this takes the decision off the table. If you are focused on macros or some type of diet, meal prep is one way to guarantee you stick to it. It also prevents the “What am I going to eat?” issue. How many times do you get home at night, open the fridge and stare thinking what do I want to eat? Or at the office lunchtime comes and you are trying to pick where to go for food, and when you get there what to get? There is a belief that these decisions hamper your ability to make other more important decisions.
But could you train your mind to make these decisions quickly so there is little or no impact on your other decisions. Or even possible that it helps the ability to make decisions. Paraphrasing Bruce Lee, water does not hesitate when it hits an obstacle, it finds a new path. If you practice making decisions, you can become better at it. Understanding how to make small decision quickly if understanding you do not need to see every piece of information.
You know your wardrobe and what outfit goes together. And if i is just a regular day you should be able to make a quick decision on what to wear. If you did the food shopping, you should know the food in your fridge and have meals in mind. In both cases you can train yourself to make these choices quickly. The thought is the more choices you make the better you get at it. This in turn helps you making other decisions. Your brain will focus on the keys needed to make the decision, remove the noise and have clarity in how to respond.
Waiting for the right time or delaying decisions does not mean they are any better. But training yourself to recognize when the information is enough and how to gather it quickly so your reactions can be swift and not hasty. Perfection never comes and I and others have written that perfection is the enemy of good. Movement is better than being stuck, and if again like water you can be agile to adjust.
This idea of decision making all brought on by questioning my energy level, and the key is do have have the energy to make tough decisions. As I dug deep, I found it is not my energy that should drive whether I make them, but training my brain to be able to make them no matter what energy level I am at. There will be days I have no choice but to make a choice, and if I am not prepared, I have less chance of success, and worse if I am not agile, I will not be able to adjust as needed. I indeed need to be “like water my friend.”
Please note Bruce Lee’s quotes on water go much deeper than just decision making and will leave it to my reader to do their research. This is just one part of being water. My journey of questioning myself every morning about energy will continue and maybe bring some more insights on where I need to improve. As for my meal preparation, I still think I will continue as it is not about decision making, but also about convenience.
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