Ever feel like you’re on a treadmill? Yeah, me too. Have you ever met someone who seems to get the same amount done that you do, but doesn’t seem to experience the same stress and heartburn? It can be maddening, can’t it. “How do they do it?” you might have wondered. Here’s the secret – They make fewer decisions. “That’s it???” you might think. But that’s the simple key.
After studying thousands of good decision makers and adapting their strategies myself. I want to show how we have recaptured the time energy and focus that seems to elude so many people. This is not hard, but will take some focused time. Now, before you dismiss what I say because you’re already feeling overwhelmed, understand that everyone who has regained control over their days has made this investment of time. There is no getting around it. So, you have three options: One, you can say to yourself, “I don’t have time for this. I’m already too busy to invest my time in saving time. Two, you can bookmark this post and come back to it later. The upside is that you won’t lose it. The downside it that you may never get back to it. Option three, continue reading or watching now and begin your journey toward recapturing your time, energy and focus. I promise.
I am all about the practical side of overcoming overwhelm. Other than a bit of context to help you understand the factors contributing to your feelings of overwhelm and even burnout, every bit of what I explain in these posts is how little steps and tactics can reduce the number of daily decisions you make because that’s what’s draining your energy.
Okay, enough explaining. Let’s get to it. This post will provide you with an overview of a system I call Eliminate – Delegate – Automate. The three posts attached to this one will drill on those steps.
This is simple stuff. Trust me. After the initial effort, which will take 30-45 minutes, the rest should not consume more than 15 minutes per week – yes – per week. That’s the way I, and so many others, have done it. It’s like the old joke, “How do you eat an elephant? One bit at a time.”
Let’s get started. Begin by building a list of all the kinds of decisions you make every day, especially the little routine ones. This includes clearing email, installing software updates, checking social media, perhaps the “check-in-with-your-boss” meeting every morning and so on. Do this for the entire day, not just your work hours. There are plenty of personal and household tasks that should be re-evaluated as well.
Try to be complete, but don’t overwhelm yourself. Most people simply keep a piece of paper with them throughout the day and add items as they think of them. It doesn’t have to be formal. And here’s a quick tip for you as you do this. Every time you add another item to the list, add another bullet below it. The brain has a funny way of inspiring additional ideas because it has a desire for completion. That extra bullet will stimulate that process.
Do this for several days, since there are probably tasks you only perform once per week. Then set aside 30-45 minutes to review the list. Rather than looking at this as one more burden, look at it as an investment in overcoming your decision fatigue. Imagine what it will feel like when you have more time and energy because you’re not being dragged down by so many nuisance tasks every day.
Much the same way as you might hire a professional organizer to help you at home, step back from the emotional tugs you have about the obligatory tasks you feel and take an objective look at each item. For an even more objective look, ask a friend or colleague to review the list with you. This should be someone willing to push back when you say, Oh, I can’t eliminate, delegate or automate that.” They should be willing to say, “Really?” or “Why? What’s your reasoning?” That will keep you honest.
As you review the list, ask yourself three questions. Number one, “What decisions can I eliminate?” and put an “E” next to those. You might even prioritize them with a capital E for those that really should be eliminated and others with a small “e” for those you should consider eliminating. The tasks that are ripe for elimination are probably ones you just do out of habit or a sense of an obligation that started long ago. You might, for example, check social media first thing every morning. There’s nothing wrong with that except more often than not you end spending 15 or 20 minutes responding to posts than the five minutes you always plan. Then you fall behind and end up rushing out the door feeling stressed.
Or maybe your boss has a habit of pulling you in for a short chat every time you pass her office on the way to the restroom. It’s only for a couple of minutes each time, but these add up to a couple of hours per week. Perhaps you should alter your route to the restroom. It is little stuff like this that saves time and energy.
You may also feel an emotional tug because you associate the task with something from your past and you’ve become sentimental about it. An example of this might be the volunteer board you sit on. The group is always looking for help and they butter you up with how much wisdom you have to share. (This has happened to me numerous times.) But this commitment really doesn’t feed you anymore and it steals time, especially if there are new pressures on the job. Then again, it feels so comfortable and ego boosting to remain on the board. But if you’re going to relieve your decision fatigue, you will have to draw an emotional line and move on.
Second, ask, “What decisions should I delegate?” and place an “D” next to those. Even if you don’t supervise other people, you can still do this. Perhaps you always seem to be the team member who ends up putting together the report. When the team leader asks, “Who’s going to write all this up?” and no one else says anything. After an uncomfortable silence, you always say, “Oh, okay. I’ll do it” – and they let you. Here’s the secret. If you don’t say anything either, someone else will probably volunteer because everyone knows you’ve taken on a bunch of these projects. Think about the amount of time and energy you will save with just this small change in strategy.
Here’s another example. A woman in a seminar told me that she was always the one straightening out the common areas in the office. She wasn’t required to. She just got into the habit. But over time, the place got sloppier and sloppier because everyone just figured that the “magic cleaning fairy” would pick up after them. Well, that magic cleaning fairy was spending more than an hour a week doing so.
So, one day she got fed up and just stopped. She felt uncomfortable at first when the place got messier and messier. But then other people started cleaning up instead. She never said anything. They never said anything. But she recaptured about 45 minutes of her life every week. That’s more than a week of work every year. Does this sound familiar?
If you take stock of what you’re doing that other people are just letting you do, chances are you can recapture significant time yourself. Once again, these kinds of tasks and decisions are not confined to work. What are you doing that your kids or spouse should be doing? (We don’t have time in this video to drill down on this aspect, but you get the idea.) If you continually complete tasks and make decisions that others should be completing, trust me, they will let you.
Third, ask, “What decisions should I automate? Considering all the apps and services out there these days, there are lots of ways to turn the nuisance stuff over to someone, or something else. Most don’t cost that much, and time is more valuable than money. Ask any of the successful people I have interviewed.
As you review your list, place a capital “A” next to the tasks and decisions you know you would be able to automate and a little “a” next to the ones that you might be able to automate. Select one of these tasks and figure out how much time per week, month or year you spend doing or thinking about them. Then conduct a cost-benefit analysis. Remember, your time and energy have value, not just your cash-out-of-pocket.
Begin by considering scheduling software. Chances are, you use one already. But do you schedule maintenance issues, vacations, special events, and other commitments throughout the year so they are off your mind? As Ron Popeil would say, “You can set it and forget it.”
Then look at the other capital “A” items. Get on the internet and search on the words and phrases that describe these tasks. Chances are you’ll find an app or service available. Ask those you perceive as the best decision-makers around you what they do. If there’s a reasonable time-saving and energy- saving solution, they’ve probably found it.
Start small with all this. Chances are, you will feel some discomfort as you begin to implement these changes. The brain does not like changing habits and may fight you by introducing feelings of stress and thoughts of worry and loss as you work to eliminate wasteful routines. Besides, trying to make too many eliminate-delegate-automate changes at the same time will just add to your decision fatigue. Overcoming decision fatigue is a journey, not an event. Think of the list you have developed as a master plan for regaining your focus, energy and control. It will take time.
As I mentioned above, I will be posting a “drill-down” post on each of eliminate, delegate and automate with some other tactics I use and have discovered that others use. Just check for the links to these in the description below. By the way, check out my book, Overwhelming Overwhelm and my self-paced course, Beating Burnout with lots more ideas. The course is only $97 to enroll and isn’t recapturing your time, energy and focus worth a hundred bucks? The links to these resources are in the description below as well. I’m Bob Wendover with the practical side of overcoming overwhelm.