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Creativity, Cognitive Thinking, and Decision Fatigue

I've gotten back into Ramit Sethi's work in a big way, and I've found a lot of his stuff has complemented previous posts on this blog quite nicely. I'm specifically referring to decision fatigue. As a very quick reminder, decision fatigue is the idea that we make poorer and poorer decisions as the day goes on because our brains just aren't wired that way.

In an Art of Charm podcast featuring Ramit Sethi, host Jordan Harbinger questions Ramit on that balance between creativity and basically re-using concepts tested by other people. Ramit was all for re-using tested concepts. Why? Because he discerned that cognitive thinking should be reserved for times when creativity is needed, and creativity isn't needed in every aspect.

Now, the words "decision fatigue" weren't used by Ramit, but I hope you are drawing the connection here because I think they go hand-in-hand. What Ramit is basically saying is to save your brainpower when you need it. When you can, put systems in place to "automate" your life.

Don't confuse systems with electronic processes. A system can be as simple as placing your wallet and keys in the same spot every day. It's just one less thing to think about. The less things you have to think about, the more brainpower you have reserved when you need to be creative. The same goes for decision fatigue: the less micro-decisions you make throughout the day, the more cognitive function you'll have when you do need to make decisions.

You don't have to be creative with everything. If I tried putting my keys in a different place every night, I'd go insane. (Ironically, my wife tells me doing Elf on the Shelf for our daughter when she's older promotes that same insanity. While I can't disagree with her at all, I think I'm going to have to make an exception here!) The more I can automate via systems, the more creative I can be in times when creativity is truly needed.


That's all I have to say for this post. I just thought it was cool to see how all these connections come together. After all, if the ideas shared on this blog were disjointed, then I'd be a total failure to you all. They all have to be cohesive to provide value. Hope you found this post interesting. Catch you all in the next one. 
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