The one thing you should do to make yourself a little more organized

Will you wake up tomorrow morning, and spend some time wondering what you’ll have for breakfast? After that, will you spend some more time wondering what you will wear to office? Will you spend some time in office wondering how you will go about your day? Assuming you do all of these things every day, I hope you’re also aware that these mini-decisions eat up your brain energy. Even taking small decisions require significant amount of brain energy and leave you feeling exhausted at the end of the day. Well, what’s the alternative then? 

Following a Routine

You may have heard about routines followed by great innovators. How Steve Jobs used to wear the same outfit daily so that he didn’t waste time wondering what to wear daily. And he’s not the only one. So did Albert Einstein who happened to own similar gray suits. And, so does Mark Zuckerberg. And, you can read more about others who do so here. So, there’s obviously something going on here. If the world’s smartest minds are doing it, this could potentially be saving some time and making people more efficient

But, isn’t this boring?

But, hold on. I know what you’re thinking. Maybe, these smart guys did do this, but you really don’t want to. You obviously don’t want to wear the same thing every day, and you most definitely don’t want to eat the same breakfast every day or even lunch for that matter. So, then what can you do? Well, turns out there’s still quite a bit you can do to save some brain energy and become a little more productive: 

Decide your breakfast in advance: The only other way to save some time is to plan your meals in advance. Make sure to plan your breakfast the day before, so that you can stock everything which you need the day before, and make sure you know where the ingredients are going to be. That way, when you wake up next morning, you know exactly what you’re going to be having, and where you have the items required to make your breakfast. This still saves more time than waking up in the morning and trying to put together ingredients and rushing to make something edible. 

Let me share something a little boring about myself. I actually have the same breakfast every single day, and for some reason, I’m not even bored of it. In fact, breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, and if I don’t have eggs, toast and tea in the morning, I feel like I’m missing something major. So, who knows – maybe something can be said for following fixed routines after all! But, even if you’re not someone who wants to have the same breakfast every day, you can still plan the day before and make your life easy. 

Lay out what you’re going to wear the night before Whenever I don’t decide what I’m going to wear well in advance, I always try on multiple outfits in the morning, and get super-late to office. However, when I have my outfit laid out from the night before, I automatically put that on, and don’t give it much thought. I suggest you do the same, it’s made my mornings a lot more efficient. 

Plan your lunch in advance If you tend to eat in office, and you have the office meals, it might be a little tough to plan in advance, since the office menu may change every day. However, if you pack your lunches, you can easily pack it the night before. Not only is this more healthy, but it’s also more efficient for you. 

Plan your week in advance This is something which I’ve started doing lately. I tend to plan my week in advance so that I have a fair idea of the meals I’m going to be having over the week. This might sound a little robotic, but trust me it helps me get an idea of which groceries I might need to order on which day. 

Plan activities at the same time every day If you’re struggling to stick to a routine when it comes to inculcating a new habit, such as exercising more often, it’s always better to set a certain time for the activity every day. For example, set up a time in the morning or evening for exercising, and you’ll see that over time, your body will expect to exercise at that time, and you’ll find it easier to stick to your habit. 

Hence, following a routine really helps you get more organized. Of course, you needn’t plan everything and some days you may just want to have something different. And, there’s something to be said for spontaneity as well. However, overall, I’ve seen that planning in advance has helped me manage my time a lot better and it’s helped me feel less exhausted making small and generally unimportant decisions. Here’s my cupboard covered with post-it notes if you need some inspiration.