Over a decade ago, while we were in college, Mike and I studied abroad in a quaint town in England. While our time here has brought some of the most enjoyable experiences, lifelong friends, and awakened a sense of adventure within us, there’s one moment that still resonates freshly in my mind.
Let me tell you a story about a friend who had the inability to make a firm decision. We’ll call her Sarah.
In England, we didn’t live on a campus where we could visit the cafeteria and have our meals prepared for us. Instead, we had a tiny kitchen that was shared between our British “flatmates” and a weekly stipend to spend on groceries.
A regular outing we made was walking to the large grocery store to purchase what we needed to make our meals. Mike, Sarah, and myself had taken this trip weekly, but for some reason today’s visit resulted in a decision-making dilemma that I still remember.
We had done all of our shopping and went to check on Sarah to see if she was ready to head back to the dorm. So we circled around the store until we found her. To our surprise, she was in the exact spot she stood nearly 30 minutes ago–the beef aisle.
We watched her meticulously check out every single type, brand, grade, and cut of beef. Her indecisiveness to select a simple ground beef option had brought her so much stress that she couldn’t move past this aisle.
She was overwhelmed by the vast choice of ground beef options. Should she buy organic or non-organic? What percentage of fat would yield the healthiest option? Is frozen ground beef really that much lower quality than fresh? Should she feel guilty over spending this much money on a higher priced meat when she was on a limited grocery budget?
Decide Once
If you’ve been reading our blog for a while, you might know that one of my favorite bloggers/authors is Kendra Adachi, or “The Lazy Genius”. In her book (which I highly recommend!), her very first principle is called Decide Once.We have a multitude of decisions that we make during the course of the week. But if we think about those decisions, many of them can actually be decided once, rather than every day.
Be a Satisficer, not a Maximizer
A term that I’ve heard more recently is the word “satisficer”. This directly ties to our attitude and ability to make and be content with decisions and sheds some light on why deciding once is such a healthy strategy to implement.Ways I’ve Found to Decide Once
Since reading The Lazy Genius Way and learning how to apply many of Kendra’s strategies to my own life, I’ve found more peace with my decision making process and no longer spend nearly as much time waffling back and forth with everyday choices.- Face care, make-up, and cleaning products–I find what works well and stick with those products.
- Recipe binder for meal planning–I don’t have a color-coded chart or fancy calendar, but I do rely on my binder of go-to recipes that I know works for our family and are easy to make. I stick to making these meals most nights rather than create a whole new menu each week.
- Wardrobe–My wardrobe is relatively small, and contains only items I’d be content wearing on a regular basis. Each year, I reevaluate what’s in my closet and decide then what I’ll keep.
- Laundry–I’ve decided to take on one load every day rather than multiple loads at once. On Monday, I begin with the oldest (Mike and I) and work my way down the birth order of kids, finishing with sheets and towels at the end of the week.
- Kids’ lunches–Almost every day, my kids’ lunches are pretty much the same, and they’re okay with that! I know what they’ll eat, what is easy to prepare, and what is most cost effective. It’s become a no-brainer decision–pbj sandwich, sliced cheese, cut up veggies, fruit, and something crunchy. I’ll mix it up by cutting the sandwich with a fun cookie cutter, adding some sprinkles to their applesauce, or varying the snack option.
- The wall color in our home–We decided once what we liked, and have stuck with it for 4 years now. Magnolia Home’s shiplap white…done.
