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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.'"
English isn't my first language (so correct me if I'm wrong) but from TFA
I don't think that the quoted part means that Obama always eats that breakfast, etc. as the summary seems to imply.
If I'm reading the article correctly, the President did not say "'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". The author said that about himself.
Seems they have taken a clue from Albert Einstein, who supposedly owned 6 or 7 of the exact same brown suits for the same reason - so he wouldn't waste any mental energy with such useless minutiae such as what to wear that day.
-- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
This is actually false. He wore quite a wide range of clothes, typically picked out by his wife. When she died, he didn't care as much and while he owned more clothes, he tended to wear pretty drab similar looking stuff. This myth was perpatrated by the movie The Fly, and I used to believe it until someone showed me some pictures of him in different clothing, including a hoodie.
He was making the distinction between the furniture and referring to the contents of said furniture.
I like the sentiment expressed. Why waste mental resources on mundane decisions that don't amount to anything worthwhile. I created a similar routine with my clothes, however, I do not by wearing THE EXACT same thing every day (and bragging about it), but, by creating a routine system that still requires no decision making yet produces a diverse look.
I have one pair of stylish black shoes (slip on even) that look great with jeans, pants or a suit.
I have two dozen pair of black socks that are all identical. This means I merely need to grab two socks and I know they match. I don't allow variations (which means you end up having to inspect each sock to find it's right mate) and who cares about socks.
Finally, and this is the key, I have a limited set of jeans and button shirts that all mix and match without exception.
At the beginning of the day, I merely pick a pair of jeans, grab a shirt, two socks and slip on my one pair of shoes and voila I've spent no effort thinking about it yet I look great.
Runesabre
Enspira Online
No, Obama solved an important problem: as President he needs to look impeccably dressed. But he doesn't want to invest much more time in getting dressed in the morning than throwing on the first thing that comes out of his closet. So what he did is arrange his closet so that the first thing that comes out is one of a few very nice suits. That way he gets the best of both worlds: he can look Presidential without having to fuss over his wardrobe.
Practical, I'd say.
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
Socks are practical in that they provide a removable layer of fabric between your skin and the interior of the shoe. This helps prevent chaffing and reduces the amount of bacteria buildup in the show (assuming that clean socks are used regularly).
Now granted, the foot issue you explained is pretty rediculous, but there's other people on here saying they eat the same thing every day. That is actually not good for your body. Its just like an exercise routine, if you do the same thing every time then it gets easy as your muscles adapt and you get less benefit from it. Your body also adapts to your diet, and keeping your food choices irregular helps burn more calories and keep your metabolism high.
Because he always uses one-- always. Reagan often used notes. Reagan was also clearly more comfortable answering questions, even though he was far older than Obama and clearly occasionally suffered from "senior moments" even before he developed Alzheimer's. What's the real difference? Reagan acknowledged the value of the opinions of others, and expected criticism. Obama's reaction to criticism or mere questions on his ideas are answered by confused fumbling or barely constrained contempt for the challenger.
W rarely used a teleprompter; he preferred old-fashioned index cards. Does that make him dumber, or smarter than Obama and Reagan?
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Now granted, the foot issue you explained is pretty rediculous, but there's other people on here saying they eat the same thing every day. That is actually not good for your body. Its just like an exercise routine, if you do the same thing every time then it gets easy as your muscles adapt and you get less benefit from it. Your body also adapts to your diet, and keeping your food choices irregular helps burn more calories and keep your metabolism high.
Well, that smells like grade-A bullshit.
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
Because he always uses one-- always. Reagan often used notes. Reagan was also clearly more comfortable answering questions, even though he was far older than Obama and clearly occasionally suffered from "senior moments" even before he developed Alzheimer's. What's the real difference? Reagan acknowledged the value of the opinions of others, and expected criticism. Obama's reaction to criticism or mere questions on his ideas are answered by confused fumbling or barely constrained contempt for the challenger.
W rarely used a teleprompter; he preferred old-fashioned index cards. Does that make him dumber, or smarter than Obama and Reagan?
Every single detail you cite there is wrong, though.