When I was little my mum always used to lay my clothes out for school the night before. Leaving everything out in a neat pile on the chair at the end of my bed.
Now, 45 years later I’ve started doing the same thing.
I read an article recently about decision fatigue and the fact that every day we have to make literally 100s and 100s of decisions. Some big - “Shall I apply for that job” and some small - “which earrings should I wear”
In fact, research mentioned in this article suggests that the average American adult makes over 35,000 decisions per day. I don’t know about you but my jaw hit the deck when I read that. With figures like that it’s no surprise that by 6pm I can find myself staring into the kitchen cupboard trying to muster up the willpower to cook a family meal.
So, in no particular order I present to you a few things I have been doing to reduce the number of daily decisions I need to make:
On a Sunday I do a meal plan for the week - we each get to pick a meal and then I fill in the gaps with a few favourites.
Doing the bulk of my grocery shopping online.
Every night I lay out my clothes for the morning and put what I need in my handbag ready to go.
I make overnight oats and store them in the fridge ready for breakfast.
When I’m nearing the end of a book, I go through my to-read list and make sure I have a new one picked out and ready to go.
Every morning I write out a list with 3 things I want to do that day (they don’t have to be big things.
If I have to make any important decisions - do them in the morning.
Sticking to a regular bedtime and getting up time.
Out of all of these, the laying out of clothes the night before has proved to be the real winner. In a way that I really can’t explain. There is something very reassuring and very comforting in knowing that you cared enough about yourself and your state of mind to do this little thing for yourself. Something that you knew would save you valuable minutes in the morning and help get your day off to a calmer, less rushed start.
What’s one caring thing you could do for your future self today?
I love the idea of looking up books beforehand - I'm currently badly stuck in that space between books where I desperately want to read a new book but just can't narrow down options!
I shall definitely be keeping this in mind!
I also lay my clothes out the night before and I read quite a bit so I keep my books stacked in the order I want to read them. I use the library pretty heavily so that forces some order because I need to read them before they’re due! On cold nights I like to get the hot water bottle filled and tucked into my bed when I’m making dinner. When I get into a warm bed it almost feels like someone else got it ready for me, for some reason!