Make Better Choices
Where you are, right now in this moment, is a product of every decision you've made up until this point. We have complete freedom to choose how to act, so why do we often make choices that go against our highest intentions?
Quite simply, we have too many choices to make. On average, adults make 35,000 decisions in a day. And in our modern age, there's never been more options to choose from – everything from which alternative milk to buy to which app to download. We are swimming in options and it's making us exhausted!
Decision fatigue is a phenomenon that has recently been given lots of attention. Numerous studies have shown that more choices isn’t necessarily better – in fact, the opposite has been shown to be true. Too many options makes us unproductive and unsatisfied (as someone who sometimes has a hard time making decisions – I have definitely found this to be true). When we're drained from making too many decisions we take the path of least resistance which most often are bad choices.
Watch the video to hear how I like to explain decision fatigue.
So what's the solution to making better choices? Hint: It's not willpower that you need. It's habit automation.
"Good habits are not decisions - but automatic routines based on prior conscious decisions" - Cate Stillman
Good habits are choices we’ve made in advance that we’ve repeated until they've become automatic so we don’t have to make that same decision every day - we just do it. Like brushing your teeth – you don't make the decision to brush your teeth every day – you just do it (hopefully). When we automate the habits that we want, we free up brain space to make the important decisions. And we consistently do the things that will lead us to the results we want in our life.
Here are some of the habits I've automated that keep me healthy:
I start my day with 2 cups of warm lemon water
I move my body for at least 15 minutes before ingesting any other food or drink
I meditate for 15 minutes every morning
I have a green smoothie or green juice every morning
What habits do you want to automate to feel great in your body, mind and heart?