Many of you know that I am a fan of routine – doing things at the same time each week so that I don’t have to think about them. I am the person who sorts out what they are going to wear for the week in one hit, has meals planned and fills up with petrol at the same time every week (the cheapest day of course!)
Various studies have supported by theories on this. We simple don’t have enough or energy to dedicate to all the decisions we have to make on a daily basis so by allocating non important decisions to routine we are free to spend our brain power on decisions and thinking that matter. We get decision fatigue.
The best analogy to describe this phenomena I heard recently in a webinar by #Dr Amantha Imber of innovation consultancy Inventium. She suggested we need to consider our brain as a battery. For every decision that we make, our battery power is diminished, the more decisions we make the more our battery runs out. So if we’ve already spent the morning working out what to wear, what to have for breakfast, and where you keys are – our battery power is being used up for decisions that shouldn’t require energy.
Endless studies have shown that the more decisions we make over the course of the day the worse the decisions we make are. People never tend to break a diet at 8am on a Monday!
So make your important decisions in the morning. Schedule time for the most important aspects of your business development, marketing and growth for the first part of the day.
In the same way allocate mundane tasks for the afternoon. And don’t be pressured into making a decision if you feel decision fatigue.
By having a clear head in the morning when you start for the day to build your business you have the chance of being open to new opportunities and possibilities. Start you day or week with the idea that you can ‘Walk in Stupid Every Morning’ a term coined by Dan Wieden, who started the ridiculously successful creative agency ‘Wieden and Kennedy’ in 1982.
In an article with Advertising Age in 2013, Wieden explained
“While you were sleeping, the world you’re now inhabiting has changed somehow. It might be a big change, a small change, but don’t assume anything…”Our most valuable assets as individuals and society is our ability to lead a creative life and a life that can not only adapt to change but that can influence change,” he said.
Colin Powell, who often told his people: “Tell me what you know, then tell me what you don’t know, only then can you tell me what you think.”
Your customers will tell you everything you need to know about how to innovate in your business if you are willing to listen to them
Some tips for getting the most out of your day:
- Don’t sweat the small stuff – put routine around the daily and weekly activities you have to do
- Start the day stupid – spend two minutes on your mindset, brain dump ideas
- Eat that Frog – get important work done first!
- Manipulate your physical environment to drive creativity
- Optimise your time – use technology to improve time management, not distract from what needs to be done.