From the late 90s on, Steve Jobs famously wore the same thing every day — black turtleneck, 501 blue jeans, and New Balance 991 sneakers.
One of his reasons (supposedly) was to reduce decision fatigue. Specifically, to not waste any brain cycles on picking out clothes. Others, such as Zuck and Obama have adopted similar approaches.
Decision fatigue is a real thing (from Perplexity):
The decline in the quality of decisions made after a prolonged period of decision-making. It occurs because decision-making is a cognitively taxing process, and as mental energy depletes, individuals become less capable of making sound choices. This phenomenon can lead to poor decisions, procrastination, or reliance on default options.
Causes:
- Volume of Decisions: Making numerous decisions in a short period drains mental energy.
- Complexity: Decisions that involve weighing trade-offs or significant consequences are particularly exhausting.
- Stress and Emotional Load: High-stakes or emotionally charged decisions exacerbate fatigue.
- Modern Life Overload: The abundance of choices in modern life, from trivial (e.g., what to wear) to significant (e.g., career moves), stretches cognitive resources.
I’m sure you know decision fatigue.
“What do you want for dinner?”
“I don’t know. What do you want?”
Etc.
We all create routines in order to avoid wasting brain cycles. It’s a great life hack and, quite frankly, necessary in the overloaded culture we live in. Plus, routines keep us disciplined and (when healthy) keep us moving in the right direction.
However, every once in a while, we gotta ignore the machine that we’ve created and tap into our humanity. We gotta purposely waste some brain cycles.
Order something new. Wear something different. Listen to a different voice. Question a core belief.
Maybe those wasted brain cycles become the most important.
