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For Obama, Jobs, and Zuckerberg, Boring Is Productive
Hugh Pickens writes "Robert C. Pozen writes in the Harvard Business Review that while researching a behind-the-scenes article of President Obama's daily life, Michael Lewis asked President Obama about his practice of routinizing the routine. 'I eat essentially the same thing for breakfast each morning: a bowl of cold cereal and a banana. For lunch, I eat a chicken salad sandwich with a diet soda. Each morning, I dress in one of a small number of suits, each of which goes with particular shirts and ties.' Why does President Obama subject himself to such boring routines? Because making too many decisions about mundane details is a waste of your mental energy, a limited resource. If you want to be able to have more mental resources throughout the day, you should identify the aspects of your life that you consider mundane — and then "routinize" those aspects as much as possible. Obama's practice is echoed by Steve Jobs who decided to wear the same outfit every day, so that he didn't have to think about it and the recent disclosure that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is proud that he wears the same outfit every day adding that he owns 'maybe about 20' of the gray, scoop neck shirts he's become famous for. 'The point is that you should decide what you don't care about and that you should learn how to run those parts of your life on autopilot,' writes Pozen. 'Instead of wasting your mental energy on things that you consider unimportant, save it for those decisions, activities, and people that matter most to you.'"
Obligitory Dilbert
Summation 2
I've routinized phone calls from friends. I just give bland answers while I'm also on the computer, until they go away. That way they don't distract me from what I really love, which is my computer and phone, for work and play. I also skip birthday gifts and cards, and even routine courtesies like saying please and thank-you -- you know, manners. By routinizing them, I can check my eight favorite websites 10 times a day.
it worries me how much mental energy they were putting into something as simple as getting dressed or what to have for breakfast. sounds like an anxiety disorder to me.
You'd be surprised. I mean, let's take myself for example. Even starting to think about shaving sets my mind abuzz with contours and shear strength equations dealing with each follicle of hair. Before applying the lather, it's a pain to model my face in a three dimensional image so as to optimize the amount of face covered per stroke versus a random walk pattern across the ... and I've already spent too much time on it so I don't shave.
... and I've already spent too much time on showering so I don't shower.
... and I've already spent too much time on selecting a suitable place to live so here I sit in my mom's basement.
Then there's the possibility of showering. However, to achieve the optimal temperature at which my body enjoys a shower requires me to measure the temperature of the water leaving the shower head. But wait, as my body enters this spray, the temperature adjusts based on the laws of cooling since my body is a colder object than the water or air inside the shower
Then there's selecting an adequate living arrangement. First I start out walking about the city inspecting each apartment and judging the socioeconomic surroundings with an expected value weighted against my monthly payment combined with the ability and freedom to do whatever I want when I want. But that's a nebulous construct that requires set theory and a rigorous modeling of how I'll spend the coming year since the contract length is variable based on property
Don't even get me started on employment or fornication. I need to conserve that brain power to be the indomitable force of genius that I am.
My work here is dung.
You must be new here. The debate happened today. The earliest that Slashdot could get to obfuscating it would be next Sunday.
If selecting what to wear and/or what to have for breakfeast impair you to the degree that it affects your actions for the remainder of the day then you probably seriously should consider a CT scan.
"I have downloaded hundreds and hundreds of records, why would I care if somebody downloads ours?" Robin Pecknold
For guys like Obama, Jobs or Zuckerberg, they could easily afford a butler who would make those kinds of decisions for them, lay out their clothes for the day, prepare varied breakfasts and lunches, set out diary appointments etc. For normal guys there's always the wife, and mom for the basement dwelling types.
This is what I was thinking. I have a whole closet full of clothes, and it takes me literally 1 second to decide what to wear. Maybe it's different when you're president and everyone is reading into what kind of suit you're wearing.
What to have for breakfast? Whatever is in the kitchen.
I always take the leftmost shirt without thinking about it. Someone once asked me if I wear the same shirt for several days in a row - and realised I that my obsessive habit of always taking the shirt on the left clashed with my wife's obsessive need to sort shirts by colour, with identical shirts together!
I use a wardrobe (as in the Lion, the Witch, etc)
Do you know a lot of people who don't know what a wardrobe is, and find yourself having to explain it to them in terms of classic literature?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
If only they had invented GarAnimals earlier....would have made it easier for poor Albert to match his clothes in the morning...and still have some variety.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I'll just never understand why anyone would care about what covers their feet as long as they are comfortable.
Perhaps your feet have different requirements to others?
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The way some people carry on, you'd think that teleprompters had had to be specially invented just for Obama.
I thought they were invented by Steve Jobs.
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Yeap. What the hell is going on with /.?
You must be new here.
English isn't your first language? You're qualified to be chief editor of Slashdot.
Demonstrated a high level of reading comprehension? You're now disqualified from the chief editor position.
A small number of suits, each with matching shirts?
That's for losers, Barack. I have a small number of dark suits, and a set of white shirts. No time wasted on the matching process.
I also have a few white+blue shirts. I use these like the tape on those supermarket checkout registers: the color is a signal that the tape is about to run out. So, if I ever find myself wearing a non-white shirt, I know I need to go to the store and buy 12 white shirts.
He's saying it isn't used for storing clothes but rather as a portal to the land of Narnia.
Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
You think he's smart? I standardized Chocolate Pudding for lunch and dinner, too.
This is what I was thinking. I have a whole closet full of clothes, and it takes me literally 1 second to decide what to wear.
I've optimized the process even further: I never even buy clothes, but it makes the day-to day routine more complex. For example, I have to make sure that holes in the trousers don't line up with holes in the underpants (try explaining that one to a judge!).
Other than that, I'm good to go.
SJW n. One who posts facts.