“What’s the rating for The Breakfast Club movie?” (1)

I love movies, so often go to IMDB to check the rating before watching it. One small self-imposed rule is to only watch movies with a rating greater than 7 (2)

Why this rule? I realized that I was often disappointed and felt I had wasted a couple of hours of my life watching movies with a rating less than 7 so decided on this as a minimum criteria.

It simplifies my movie decision-making process. It reminds me of why Barack Obama wore the same style of suit every day whilst in the White House (3) or why Steve Jobs wore the same black turtleneck jumper and jeans. It allowed them one less thing to think about.

They had so many important decisions to make throughout the day that they did not want to use up their mental energy unnecessarily. It seems that people get “decision fatigue” – the quality of your decisions deteriorate after a long session of decision making.

What rules can you make to help you? Maybe you can have the same breakfast every morning, do your workouts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, allow yourself 15 minutes a day on social media, give your virtual assistant authority to make decisions for you up to a defined limit, get them to pick stock photos, etc.

Where can you save your mental energy?

Footnotes

1) The Breakfast Club has a rating of 7.9 in case you are interested.
2) Exceptions do happen, maybe someone has recommended it or I want a complete no brainer movie.
3) Barack Obama wears the same suit