I spent the day at a CIO Summit in Los Angeles. Met a lot of interesting people and I tried to pay attention as much as possible to some of the presentation content. Always a struggle for me! Paying attention that is! It is like paying attention is an all or nothing consideration. I either am fully focused, or all over the place. The problem is that fully focused requires energy and sometimes I just don’t want to!
Having said that I did pay attention today and I noticed that the concept of automation is top of mind for technology leaders. As you consider that, you realize that the reason is that manual processes and impromptu decision making are consuming. They take effort and energy and costs are high. Once something is automated, it removes decision making, lowers the high costs associated and becomes very predictable. Predictable cost is a great outcome in of itself, because it reduced the time spent in decision making.
Which leads me to my concept for today. By the end of the day, I am exhausted with the minutia of decision making. Once it gets to a certain time at night, I am just done making decisions and the fatigue of that puts me in a state of wanted to avoid anything that requires me to think through something to make a decision. This is why people do not keep commitments toward the end of the day, whereas they might have good intent – the desire to avoid anything further decision making will get you to throw out all your plans and go the easy route.
So the answer is to automate your life of course! No, I am not talking about replacing your spouse with a chatbot. I am talking about creating a habitual pattern that you fall into without thinking, no decision required. You are more likely to repeatedly do something if you do not have to make any decisions about it. As you automate what you do and when you do it, you will find that it is much easier to accomplish and more efficient. You will get more done in a short period of time, because you have already decided what you are going to do and in what order and for how long.
Are any of you like me? If I am fatigued when I wake up in the morning, or before I go to bed – I will sometimes just sit there and think about what I have to do. I will sit there and contemplate a few options. Should I run around the park, or run down the bike path? Stupid decision – but when I do not want to do something – I will let any small stupid decision become a stumbling block.
So I have automated many of my habits. When I wake up in the morning it is automatic. I get out of bed at 5am, I go found my notebook, I plan my day, I write my list, I pray and meditate, I put on my running shoes and I go outside and run. It is clockwork. I am building a night time routine as well, that has become pretty consistent. The more I can automate the more I get done in a day without even thinking about it – which is a good thing!
Guy Reams
365 Alumni
76 Days Left to 1st Marathon
