Let’s get honest: You wear too many hats. Daughter. Friend. Leader. Co-worker. Let’s add some more: wife, mother, sister, grand daughter, cousin, neighbor, church member, committee member, PTA/PTO member, pet owner, home owner, car owner, AND the list goes on. If you are a parent of school age children you can add teacher to the list. Make it stop!

That list is reason enough to simplify your decision making process! But where do you start? How do you know who to say yes to and who to say no to and who to put off with a maybe? YIKES!

Allow me to suggest 3 compelling reasons to simplify your decision making process:

1. Your time is precious
2. Your brain is needed for big issues
3. You will gain more by deciding less

These reasons aren’t new. I’ve been surprised by how revolutionary they are when taken seriously.

Your Time is Precious

Have you thought about the fact that time is a non-renewable resource? You know how many hours you have in a day to get stuff done. Our productivity culture keeps reminding us. Depending on how you choose to allocate your time to the many hats you wear your time is full. Making decisions happens multiple times within every day. What if you could simplify your repetitive choices? Imagine gaining some precious time back…

Your brain is needed for big issues

In any one of the roles you fill your brain space is needed for focusing on big issues. One of my clients shared her new to her strategy for decluttering her mental space: she’s choosing to deal with easy to resolve issues, such as scheduling an appointment, by taking the action right away instead of telling herself she’ll do that later then forgetting to schedule it. Holding onto minor tasks in our heads instead of either writing it down or making the call detracts from our mental agility. Decide to develop a strategy to off load minor issues to free your brain space for bigger issues.

You will gain more by deciding less

Routines and habits are helpful or horrifying depending on your mindset. They’re helpful once we’ve done the work to choose and change. They’re horrifying to determine and defend when others aren’t on board. Both things can be true at the same time. Once you’ve decided to implement a routine you have freed your brain and time to be used in other ways. What do you stand to gain?

In her new book The Lazy Genius Way, Kendra Adachi spells out 13 principles that speak to the compelling reasons I’ve named today. I learned of Kendra’s work by listening to Emily P. Freeman’s interview with Kendra in episode 139 of The Next Right Thing. I loved her practical no nonsense honesty about what she wants to put her energy toward. I recommend her leadership and voice as a step to thriving in your work, life and faith.

I’ve signed up for her newsletter and I bought her book. I’m expecting to learn new things and be reinforced in the ways I’m already implementing some of her principles. Perhaps this is a good next step for you, too?