Hoping to change a few habits!
Ramit sent an email last week about how President Obama manages his time. Basically, since he has so many BIG decisions to make, to keep his decision-making abilities sharp, he makes no decisions about his daily life. Of course, everything is being taken care of, but he also only wears gray or blue shirt, to avoid the decision-making process and focus on the big task of running a country.
Taking this example back to our daily lives, there are many things that we can automate so that we don’t have to worry about them anymore, and can concentrate on what is really important to us. Would you rather chose your shirt for 10 minutes each morning, or have 10 minutes to deeply reflect on your life goals and ways to achieve them?
Obama-ize your finances
Put everything on auto-pilot, bills, savings to different account, retirement contributions, donations… Check once a week on your online banking that everything is going smoothly, and withdraw a bit of cash for unexpected expenses. Review your budget once a month or every quarter to confirm that your spending is in track and adjust to your new goals.
My Obama score: I’ll give myself an A on that one, I have simplified my finances over the years, and now I maybe write or get a couple of checks per year, everything else is wired to my account and goes out to pay all of my expenses.
Obama-ize your clothes
Find out a dressing routine that works for you, it can be that you will use two pants and five shirts over the week, so you can take those seven items out on Sunday night, and pair them during the week. You will save time instead of looking at that huge closet mumbling ”I have nothing to wear”
My Obama score:Again, I deserve an A! I have been traveling for 6 months with one pair of jeans and one other pair of pants, five t-shirts, one sweater and a jacket. I didn’t have too much trouble wondering what to wear in the morning.
Obama-ize your food
First, don’t stare bluntly at your open fridge for hours, it wastes energy and drives me crazy! Just as with clothing, figure out a common basis for each meal, that you do enjoy (rice, pasta, potatoes, lentils), and go shopping for complements (vegetables, meat, fish) that you can easily pour on top. Vegetables can be chopped and cleaned during the weekend so that you only have to grab them and put them into a salad or a wok.
My Obama score: I get a B. Ramit suggests eating the same breakfast every day, I like a variety of breakfasts, but can have the same breakfast for five days in a row. So I can get a carton of eggs or a box of cereal and figure out the next breakfast series once I finish those. I am good at not wondering what to eat and just grabbing vegetables and leftovers from the fridge to turn it into something edible, but couldn’t have taco Mondays, lasagna Tuesdays, wash, rinse and repeat.
Obama-ize your house
Like grandma said one spot for each thing and each thing on its spot. Or something. Leave your retainer by the side of your bed or in the bathroom, your keys by the door on a key-basket or a special place where you know they will be the next time you need them. Bills go to a bills folder, put the dirty clothes bin where it is more convenient, the bathroom or the bedroom, but one place where you won’t miss and end up having socks on the floor for a week.
My Obama score: A very poor F, I am terrible at this! Just yesterday I spent half an hour looking for my keys!! Points for trying though.
Obama-ize your fitness
Leave your running shoes and gear by your bed at night so you just have to wake up and step into them. Your mind is powerful and will try to trick you into not going if the minimum effort is required in order to get you ready.
Have a set routine, run on Monday swim on Wednesday cycle on Friday for example. Your body and mind will get into the habit and do it much easier.
My Obama score: I think it’s a C. I hate the gym so I don’t go but I have made it a habit to take my bicycle to go almost anywhere. I hope to settle down into a swimming and cycling routine when I move to Guatemala next month.
What other simple routines can you implement to make your life easier and concentrate on what is important in life?
I love the concept behind this, because it goes really well with opportunity cost which I have talked about recently. Automating parts of your life, or just simplifying the decision-making process, can really help!
It can definitely keep you on the right track. Starting a habit of brown bagging your lunch the night before so you just have to grab it in the morning can save you many lunches out for example.
I wondered where you were going with this….lol.
Yeah, in a lot of ways I guess I am on auto-pilot. That is probably a good thing!
On second thoughts, Obama-izing your life could mean a lot of things, you’re right 🙂
Good concept. We do a lot of this to save ourselves time. Like DC mentioned, by doing this you can free yourself up to do other things which can really help you be efficient.
With a family I bet you have no other choice or there wouldn’t be enough hours in a day! I can’t imagine what being a president is like, when most people say they are overbooked.
I definitely don’t obama-ize my food. It’s sad but my wife and I take way to much time each day deciding what we are in the mood to eat for dinner. The rest of them I do a good job with.
If you are unhappy with that, it is an easy habit to change! You could cook batches during the weekend and take them out of the freezer for dinner. You would still have choice if you feel like lasagna or stew, and it would be ready to eat.
Great post. I’m all about focusing on a few big ideas and leaving the rest. A popular success coach I know teaches his minions to spend ALL their time on their “special talent” and to delegate the rest. They spending more time on that one thing you’re great at, you’re soaring ahead of people who are trying to be everything to everyone.
Totally agree with that, although my cheap side makes me want to take care of everything myself sometimes! I have to think really hard to realize that I would be more successful doing what I am good at and delegating the rest.
Love this post! We currently obama-ize a few things ourselves. Like you say, cutting veggies ahead of time helps quite a bit in preparing dinners, lunches, saving time and money. So many things all done through practice of one simple habit – cut ahead of time. Most of my bills are on auto pay except a few (I don’t trust my internet company to take out the correct amount due every single time without checking – they’re on my ‘a-holes’ radar!
And you seem to be on my spam radar, sorry you had to write your long comment twice! Do you know of a plugin to “safelist” people that have already one post approved?
With a child, you have to auto pilot lots of things. We lay out clothes and whatever needs to go to school in advance. We have to get soccer or dance clothes packed and keep the ones for the current week in the laundry room so we can grab them on the way out. I have been terrible this month with meal planning, but will do better next month when soccer season is over. I always pack my gym clothes the night before. I get up so early that it’s hard to remember in the morning what I might need.
I am just starting to realize how much organization kids require. And they ask for it! My little niece is two years old and if you don’t do things “like mommy” she will ask you to do it again! Preparing everything the day before is a very good idea.
I can’t handle being unorganized. Where you get an F, I think I would get an A. My wife is a little obsessive compulsive and I hate having to search around for things so our house is pretty good when it comes to putting things in their proper spot.
My (bs) point when I was younger was that a house needed “life”, i.e. be messy, that life was too short to make your bed and undo it the next day, but when I sum up the time I spend looking for things, or reorganizing a big mess, I see it’s not worth it. My solution has been minimalism, I can’t get really messy with only a few things in my house.
I never thought about life quite this way! lol! I tend to eat the Obama way just because I’m the worst and most uncreative cook (although I think this is one area it’s good to be creative and different!). I automate a lot of other things, but I think I have a decent balance. If I automate too much, I tend to not pay attention to details. If I’m forced to do some things myself I pay attention more. Other than that, keeping things as simple as possible does make life pretty easy. I hardly even need a calendar my life is that simple.
I have a calendar free life too, except when I come back to Paris and have many visits and things during a couple of weeks. If you don’t like to cook or other activities, automating them is the best way to minimize the boring things in your life, and have more time for fun and important stuff.