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For Obama, Jobs, and Zuckerberg, Boring Is Productive

Posted by timothy on from the your-prism-for-the-autism-spectrum dept.

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.'"

73 of 398 comments (clear)

  1. it worries me by iamagloworm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:it worries me by SJHillman · · Score: 2

      I use a wardrobe (as in the Lion, the Witch, etc) with different clothes separated on different shelves, folded and stacked. I grab a shirt and pants from the top of their respective stacks. If I don't like the combination, I put the shirt back and take the next one. The laundry randomizes which clothes are in which order each week, keeping pairings fresh. Every few weeks, if I have a pile of something (IE: t-shirts) that I never get to the bottom of, I'll flip the whole stack upside down.

    2. Re:it worries me by StoneyMahoney · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The amount of time some people can spend on trivial stuff like that is mindblowing people people like us. The reason we can't see the importance here is probably because we've already optimized these simple processes without even thinking about it. The weather is the most important variable factor in my clothing routine. I avoid eating the same thing two days in a row, but it follows a simple sandwich/salad + fruit/snack formula.

      On the other hand, I did some field maintenance in a modelling agency (not as glamourous as you might think - an office of 15 women all with sync'd up periods, BAAAD place to be one week of the month) and it took me about as long to purchase, eat and digest my lunch as it did for a small group of these people to decide what they all wanted. It wasn't like they were trying to decide to go somewhere as a group, they all went off individually to get food from different places. I eavesdropped on their conversation while progress bars were doing their thing, they seemed to consider lunch to be some kind of personal expression that had to be absolutely perfect or face ridicule from everyone in the street for the rest of their lives. I could feel my inner feminine side trying to scream "It's just lunch! Get over it!" at them. I can't imagine what the damage to their productivity was. Maybe if they spent more time concentrating on work and less time mulling over the minutae of office life they wouldn't have had to work late every night.

    3. Re:it worries me by Mister+Transistor · · Score: 4, Informative

      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... --
    4. Re:it worries me by Chrisq · · Score: 5, Funny

      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!

    5. Re:it worries me by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 4, Funny

      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.
    6. Re:it worries me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      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.

    7. Re:it worries me by cslax · · Score: 4, Informative

      He was making the distinction between the furniture and referring to the contents of said furniture.

    8. Re:it worries me by cayenne8 · · Score: 3, Funny

      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.

      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.........
    9. Re:it worries me by BitwizeGHC · · Score: 5, Informative

      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!
    10. Re:it worries me by jd2112 · · Score: 4, Funny

      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.
    11. Re:it worries me by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      I eat oatmeal every morning. It's really easy for me to make sure I have breakfast in the house. "I wanted pancakes today, but we're out of syrup."

      I always have oatmeal in the house, but I don't always eat it. I, too, always have breakfast in the house.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    12. Re:it worries me by jader3rd · · Score: 5, Insightful

      seemed to consider lunch to be some kind of personal expression that had to be absolutely perfect or face ridicule from everyone in the street for the rest of their lives.

      Early on in my marriage my wife expressed frustration over how I wasn't giving much input into what I thought we should have for dinner, and how I was generally happy with whatever was decided upon. It was something that created a minor divide between us. One day, about two years into being married, my wife mentioned that she was hungry, and so I looked in the fridge and offered to get her two or three things. She declined all of them, saying how she didn't feel like eating any of them. I asked what she did feel like eating and she responded that she was trying to figure that out. After a couple more comments I drilled into something that I've confirmed with multiple other female associates of mine: women don't get hungry for food; women need to get to the point where they 'feel' like they need to eat a specific kind of food. It's possible that as time goes on the set of acceptable foods grow, but the desire to eat is rarely driven by their stomach, it's pretty much driven by their emotional 'feelings' (whatever those are). My wife found it very odd that when I'm hungry, it's because there's a pain in my stomach and any and all foods can satisfy this pain (just need to reduce the stomach acid). As long as my tongue is okay with it, all foods can make the hunger go away.

      So for your co-workers, what they're doing while they're standing in the queue deciding on what they should eat, is having an introspective therapy session. They're trying to find out what their current hormones tell them they 'feel' like eating, and are hoping that something on the menu matches their 'feelings'. That's why it takes so long.

    13. Re:it worries me by serviscope_minor · · Score: 4, Funny

      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.
    14. Re:it worries me by Jason+Levine · · Score: 2

      I'm not that bad, but I have my clothes (mentally, not physically) divided into "Brown Pants Clothing" and "Black Pants Clothing"*. I can combine any of the Black Pants Clothing items with a pair of black or grey pants and look presentable. The same is true with the Brown Pants Clothing and brown/tan pants. If I combine Black Pants Clothing and brown/tan pants (or vice versa) though, I risk looking like I don't know what clothing matches. Which I don't. I'm Clothing-Matches-Challenged. Thank goodness my wife isn't and can tell me when my shirt/pants/shoes clash.

      * The only exceptions are my belts which are the reversible kind so they can switch between Black Mode and Brown Mode.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    15. Re:it worries me by Kjella · · Score: 2

      If I had to eat as little food as models usually do, I'd also spent forever deciding what I'd use that tiny little quota on. You don't have many ounces of fat on your body before you're a "plus size" model.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    16. Re:it worries me by cellocgw · · Score: 4, Interesting

      lined a whole wall with Ikea wardrobes... a wall is a waste of precious space
        A wall, being two-dimensional (from the point of view of the resident of the room. what's inside the wall is treated as inaccessible from his universe), takes up no space at all. X * Y * 0 = zero cubic centimeters.

      Unless, of course, it's one of those fractal space-filling walls.

      --
      https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
    17. Re:it worries me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The silliest part of this to me is that the White House has a chef, so while I'm sure that the president can request anything he wants, he could just as easily have given the chef a list of foods he likes in 2008 and allowed him or her to pick the meals, if deciding what to eat is too big a mental exercise. The same for the suits. I don't know about Obama, but most presidents have had a man-servant or valet to take care of such things as making sure clothes make it to the laundry or dry cleaners, laying out suits, with appropriate ties, shoes and shirts. Why is Obama having to even notice such things?

    18. Re:it worries me by rsborg · · Score: 2

      So for your co-workers, what they're doing while they're standing in the queue deciding on what they should eat, is having an introspective therapy session. They're trying to find out what their current hormones tell them they 'feel' like eating, and are hoping that something on the menu matches their 'feelings'. That's why it takes so long.

      Perhaps it's because your body can actually communicate not only that you need food, but what kind of food you need. Ever ate something and then regretted it because it made you feel oily, irritable or gave you carb burn? Perhaps you don't have this issue, or haven't listened to your body enough to decypher these messages. Until I went on various diets (some of my own formulation, some like South Beach which had specific rules), I didn't get a good understanding of what my body was saying when I ate. A home cooked stew makes me feel a hell of a lot better on average than say, a trip to Chipotle.

      Lots of people (mostly women) take this kind of introspection seriously. I wouldn't spend more than a couple of minutes on it, but I can understand folks who can, or decide to forego food altogether for that meal/timeslot. For folks like Jobs, perhaps those couple of minutes were too valuable to not go with a pre-chosen well-researched default. Also understandable.

      --
      Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
    19. Re:it worries me by 19thNervousBreakdown · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You'd be surprised how much of a toll it can take, being in a position where your primary duty is to make hard decisions, i.e., those without definite answers. I remember very clearly, being a network admin at a company that was on the verge of failing for the last 10 year, whose infrastructure was an ad-hoc mess that was built up purely as a response to immediate needs. I had to make so many decisions, none of which had clear right answers due to the constant constraints of time, money, and the need to "sell" absolutely everything, that I would literally get irritated at the thought of deciding what to eat for lunch.

      Most people probably spend the majority of their life without even being aware of it, but you can actually feel it, your decision-making reserves emptying. And if you spend a lot of time tapped out, you come to resent the utterly irrelevant decisions that have to be made, like what to eat for lunch. I'd think, "Oh my GOD I don't care, I just need to stop being hungry so I can function."

      I never got to the point of resenting the decision about what to wear for the day, but then again I've never really cared about that, and usually didn't start to feel the drain until about 10 AM anyway. But I can easily see how a more demanding situation would lead to it, and I'll never forget that feeling. If you haven't felt it, I can see how it'd be hard to understand, but it's real, and there's no "anxious" feeling about it. You've just got none left. If you'd never run in your life, you might find it hard to understand what it's like to feel like you don't have enough breath. It's just a finite resource that most people never really put pressure on.

      --
      <xml><I><am><so><damn>Web 2.0</damn></so></am></I></xml>
    20. Re:it worries me by riker1384 · · Score: 2

      Have you ever _seen_ Obama try to decide what to eat? This is him ordering burgers:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1TxMKaYHYA

      Imagine if there was a war on.

    21. Re:it worries me by tyrus568 · · Score: 2

      Er.. she could be a chef. ;)

      I'm actually in my 'cooking' phase right now... now being about three years. Due to various awkward circumstances about not working and stuff like that, I have always had lots of free time and never did much with it that was useful or constructive... so finally finding some way that I could help contribute has been a very useful activity for me. Having this sort of time means that I can try to make new/different meals every day/week... maybe eventually I will become a pastry chef or something. I really like baking and am learning a lot right now, even though I also do all the cooking for supper, desserts and etc. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

      Did you know there's so many types of flour that it can literally make your head explode thinking about them? True story.

      In fact, the difference between regular all-purpose flour and pastry flour or cake flour is the amount of proteins per gram in them, so if you buy all-purpose and figure out how much protein is in the flour per gram, it might turn out that it's actually cake flour (7% protein iirc). And you should never buy bleached flour - it's pointless and takes away from the taste. I'm not even sure why they bleach flour, except that the process is probably easier and more efficient for them when they make it... but it's not really any cheaper than unbleached flour, which is what you should always get. Except cake flour is always bleached due to the way they make it.

      Then there's wheat flour, which has the entire wheat kernel in it, which means you are supposed to always refrigerate wheat flour, otherwise the wheat germ oil becomes oxidized over time. There's many subtypes of each flour, depending on the region it was farmed and made, and even variations in the same brand of flour across the country, because it's produced from different fields...

  2. Is this really that uncommon? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Don't most people eat the same thing (or about the same thing) for breakfast and lunch every day? I have for years and years, but I guess I didn't realize it was noteworthy to do so.

    1. Re:Is this really that uncommon? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      Extroverts are stimulated by new things; as often as possible. Quite often they tend not to consider that introverts don't, and instead find the constant novelty draining.

    2. Re:Is this really that uncommon? by The+Pirou · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I started reading this post and thought INTJ myself. Googling says Zuckerberg is an INTJ, Steve Jobs an ENTJ, with a whole lot of non-Mastermind opinion on what the President may be.

      Personally I buy 2-5 of everything so I don't need to worry about changing my 'look.' It's obvious that I care about my 'look' since I took the time to determine what it was, but beyond initial determination I don't care. Having multiple copies of clothes enables the 'same' shirt or pants with regularity without resorting to wearing dirty clothes. Were I to wear a pair of shorts 2 days in a row at home, who the hell notices? It's not any different than choosing profile images or appearance of an Avatar; Aside from shaving and general cleanliness, I don't ever need to think about my look while being readily identifiable and presentable at all times.

      It's not the clothes that I'm concerned about. There are far larger matters at stake every day of our lives as one day we will die, and the best that we can hope for is that we leave a better world for friends, family and other people to live in.

  3. Error in the summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    English isn't my first language (so correct me if I'm wrong) but from TFA

    The president first touted the necessity of daily exercise — a habit that I endorse wholeheartedly. But what he said next was even more interesting: "You'll see I wear only gray or blue suits. I'm trying to pare down decisions. I don't want to make decisions about what I'm eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make."

    I share President Obama's 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.

    I don't think that the quoted part means that Obama always eats that breakfast, etc. as the summary seems to imply.

    1. Re:Error in the summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      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.

  4. Misquote by MisterPuddles · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    1. Re:Misquote by tgd · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeap. What the hell is going on with /.?

      You must be new here.

  5. Re:wow by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 4, Funny

    Obligitory Dilbert

    --
    Summation 2
  6. Just like Sheldon by wcrowe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There was an episode on The Big Bang Theory where Sheldon started using dice rolls to make mundane decisions, thereby freeing up his mind to work on more complex problems.

    I never really thought about it, but I gravitate towards that kind of behavior. I too tend to eat the same things for breakfast and lunch, and have a limited set of wardrobe choices.

    IIRC there was a recent study that indicated that multitasking was not such a good idea. It tends to make one mediocre at all tasks rather than making one good at any single task. This seems to tie in to the thesis of this article.

    --
    Proverbs 21:19
    1. Re:Just like Sheldon by The+Wild+Norseman · · Score: 2

      I keep a D10 handy for just such mundane decisions - those where the outcome really doesn't matter - and it makes life interesting. It's actually fun not knowing what you are going to do all the time.

      It is also a bit relaxing to know that I don't have to waste any time on those thoughts; just roll the die and get on with life. I can't say I apply it to getting dressed, but choosing what to have for breakfast falls into that category.

      Actually, now that you mention it, I think it'd be freakin' awesome to roll the dice when it comes to choosing what to wear -- especially if a critical fumble means you then have to wear your underwear on your head for the rest of the day.

      --
      "A government is a body of people usually -- notably -- ungoverned." -Shepherd Book
  7. Weird by Orp · · Score: 2

    I had no idea getting dressed was so mentally taxing to some people.

    The president, I can understand (he's always in the public eye) but the others? Whatever, dudes, you have/had more money than God, if you want to wear the same clothes every day, knock yourself out, but don't give me this bullshit about expending energy on deciding what socks to put on in the morning.

    --
    A squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous, got me?
    1. Re:Weird by DogDude · · Score: 2

      It's not bullshit. Some people, myself included, have completely all-encompassing careers that demand a tremendous amount of time. Sure, I waste some time (like posting here), but it's *my* time, and it's precious to me. I don't waste time on things like clothes, food, transportation, housing, etc. All of that shit needs to be simple, and out of my way so I can focus on what I want to focus on.

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
  8. That's why I'm I skip the small talk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

  9. You are constantly followed by journalists? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I assume that you, too, are constantly followed by journalists and photographers, appear in television essentially daily, constantly meet important people from other cultures, etc...?

    What, none of that applies to you? Perhaps that might affect the fact that appearance might be more important factor for him than it is for you?

  10. I Too, Suffer Under the Weight of My Own Genius by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

    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 ... and I've already spent too much time on showering so I don't 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 ... and I've already spent too much time on selecting a suitable place to live so here I sit in my mom's basement.

    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.
    1. Re:I Too, Suffer Under the Weight of My Own Genius by chill · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hmmm...Funny or Insightful? Funny or... oh, shit. I posted. Never mind.

      Damned choices!

      --
      Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
    2. Re:I Too, Suffer Under the Weight of My Own Genius by dkf · · Score: 2

      Funny or Insightful?

      Informative!

      --
      "Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
    3. Re:I Too, Suffer Under the Weight of My Own Genius by timothy · · Score: 2

      Since +5 is the limit, I will just have to say this is the comment of the day (so far -- the judges are still determining the weight of your genius).

      --
      jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
  11. Re:This is here why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    You must be new here. The debate happened today. The earliest that Slashdot could get to obfuscating it would be next Sunday.

  12. Ian Malcom from Jurassic Park by WankersRevenge · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you haven't read Jurassic Park, check it out. I picked up recently and was surprised how much I enjoyed it. The article made me think of this passage
    ----
    "But don't you find it boring to wear only two colors?"

    "Not at all. I find it liberating. I believe my life has value, and I don't want to waste it thinking about clothing," Malcolm said. "I don't want to think about what I will wear in the morning. Truly, can you imagine anything more boring than fashion? Professional sports, perhaps. Grown men swatting little balls, while the rest of the world pays money to applaud. But, on the whole, I find fashion even more tedious than sports

    1. Re:Ian Malcom from Jurassic Park by chill · · Score: 5, Interesting

      While many of the things I've done over my life resulted in disapproval or derision from my grandmother, everything paled in comparison when I made the mistake of giving her an honest opinion of why I didn't pay much attention to sports. Specifically, the Chicago White Sox and Bears. Her being a lifelong, rabid fan of both.

      All she asked was "Why didn't you watch the game last night?" and I answered honestly.

      "Because I have better things to do. Honestly grandma, it is nothing more than grown men playing a children's game of advanced catch. Its not like they're curing cancer or doing anything useful with their lives. What's the point?"

      It was like a small thermonuclear device was set off in the living room. Two different neighbors came over to survey the wreckage -- one from a couple houses down. Someone had even called the police. One said that after 50 years of living next door, she couldn't remember anything like it. She wanted to know if grandma finally snapped and killed grandpa.

      Nothing so trivial. I had blasphemed not only the beloved Sox, but called into question the very game of baseball itself.

      It was three months before she'd speak to me again. Hell, when my cousin came out of the closet not only as a lesbian but also a registered Democrat, she only got two months of the silent treatment.

      At least I didn't tell her I was a Cubs fan. I probably wouldn't be here today if I did that.

      --
      Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  13. CT scan by TheP4st · · Score: 4, Funny

    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
  14. In other news... by Type44Q · · Score: 2

    Sociopaths are obsessive-compulsive about what they eat and wear. Who would have figured?!

  15. Solution looking for a problem by martin-boundary · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

  16. Simplify. by saltire+sable · · Score: 2

    People are always drawing their own conclusions about why I wear all black all the time, but this is the real reason... I just can't be bothered to match colours in the morning, and it narrows down my options greatly when buying new clothes. (Plus black fabric is a lot more forgiving with stains.)

  17. Every non-metrosexual already knows this by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Every non-metrosexual already knows this. Here's how we dress when we go to work:

    1) First socks and underwear we see in the drawer
    2) Top pair of pants on the pile (or on the rack, but I wear jeans these days)
    3) Warm? First non-threadbare shirt on the rack. Otherwise, first shirt with non-ratty collar, followed by first sweater in the pile.

    Takes about a minute. Heck, the time it took me to write this is probably the longest sustained period I've ever thought about what to wear in the morning.

    1. Re:Every non-metrosexual already knows this by Mandrel · · Score: 3, Insightful

      1) First socks and underwear we see in the drawer
      2) Top pair of pants on the pile (or on the rack, but I wear jeans these days)
      3) Warm? First non-threadbare shirt on the rack. Otherwise, first shirt with non-ratty collar, followed by first sweater in the pile.

      Shouldn't one ensure even wear by implementing a queue rather than a stack, or by taking the time to execute LRU algorithms?

    2. Re:Every non-metrosexual already knows this by marcosdumay · · Score: 2

      That bothers me way more than it should. When I lived alone, if fixed that problem by two unrelated algorithms (makin the pile behave like a queue was just too much work):

      1 - You can just turn your stacks upside down once in a while. If that is not enough to cycle through all your shirts, you have too many shirts.
      2 - You can always postpone washing untill you have no other option. That ensures equal wear to all your shirts.

      --
      Rethinking email
  18. Richard Feynman by OzPeter · · Score: 2

    In the book "Surely your joking, Mr Feynman", Richard Feynman talks about how he decided that he didn't want to waste time deciding on what to eat for desert - so he standardized on chocolate pudding.
     
    Given that humans can't really multi-task there is a lot to be said for eliminating mundane decisions.

    --
    I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
    1. Re:Richard Feynman by Cinnamon+Whirl · · Score: 4, Funny

      You think he's smart? I standardized Chocolate Pudding for lunch and dinner, too.

  19. Re:is that why he uses the same boring cliches? by RabidReindeer · · Score: 2

    This has been the case for every president since the teleprompter was invented.

    The first time I ever saw those glass-panel teleprompters they were surrounding Saint Reagan. One on each side, so he could turn and spontaneously address the audience.

    The way some people carry on, you'd think that teleprompters had had to be specially invented just for Obama.

  20. Absolutely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    All you nay-sayers in the comments should read about the phenomenon of decision fatigue.

    I do the same thing as Obama and Steve Jobs -- I keep the "routine" parts of my life as routine and predictable as possible, so I don't have to waste any energy on them. I've been doing this instinctively for at least ten years, but I only found out about decision fatigue a few months ago. It makes perfect sense; I have to make decisions all day long to do my day job as a programmer, and the quality of those decisions definitely starts to decline after 4 or 6 hours of work effort. And any effort spent on pointless decisions (what color shirt to wear to work, what restaurant to go to at lunch) just saps your energy that you need for making actual decisions that matter. Somehow my subconscious discovered that it had to protect this limited resource and started pushing me to stop caring about all the little shit.

  21. Re:wow by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Funny
    Hairyfeet said:

    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?

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  22. Re:Set washer to SPIN MODE by JustOK · · Score: 2

    God tells Romney what underwear to wear. It's fire-proof too.

    --
    rewriting history since 2109
  23. Re:is that why he uses the same boring cliches? by BakaHoushi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The "teleprompter thing" is mostly just people trying to justify their dislike for the man. When we dislike someone, we tend to latch on to any little thing to validate our dislike, regardless of how valid a complaint it is.

    Please note, this is neither a defense nor an attack on Obama. This has happened with pretty much every political figure in history (that you could legally speak ill of in public).

  24. How to look routinely good without looking boring. by Runesabre · · Score: 4, Informative

    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
  25. Re:So Obama is in the same catagory as by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Obama is very definitely a progressive. If you look at the history of progressive ideology, you will discover that its main goal is for bureaucrats to take over making all decisions for everyone (except for the elites who are above the law). Progressives believe that everything will work better if "experts" make the important decisions (like what cars are built by the car companies, what crops are grown by farmers, what type of food is in the grocery store).

    --
    The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
  26. Decision paralysis.... by erp_consultant · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What these guys have shown is an ability to rise above what I call decision paralysis. Everywhere we go we are inundated with choices. Next time you go to the grocery store or pharmacy take a moment and marvel at all the choices we have. Dozens of shampoo formulas, pain relievers, snacks, clothing...you name it. For many people that's a good thing but for others it just stops them cold. I remember being in a Walmart a few months ago. I go to the aisle and pick up a bottle of aspirin. There is a lady there trying to decide which one to get. I go to get something else, on the other side of the store, and discover that I had forgot to get something in the pharmacy section so I go back. That same lady is still there trying to decide what to get. Decision paralysis. It must have been a good 10 or 15 minutes and yet there she was still trying to figure out what to get.

    What Obama and others have figured out is that often the worst decision is no decision at all. You just pick something and go with it. If it doesn't work out, deal with it and adjust.

    1. Re:Decision paralysis.... by DerekLyons · · Score: 3, Interesting

      What these guys have shown is an ability to rise above what I call decision paralysis.

      Congratulations! You're calling it by the name professionals have used for years. There's even a mention of it on Wikipedia, where it forms part of a larger article on the problems with decision making.
       

      It must have been a good 10 or 15 minutes and yet there she was still trying to figure out what to get.

      I'm an educated and intelligent person, and this happens even to me. OTOH, that's one of the things that Costco attributes to it's sustained popularity and growth - almost always they have just one of a given thing. (And keep in mind that in many ways, Costco is the anti-Walmart. It's customer demographics skew strongly upscale and intelligent.)
       

      What Obama and others have figured out is that often the worst decision is no decision at all. You just pick something and go with it. If it doesn't work out, deal with it and adjust.

      Nope, they haven't discovered anything - at best, it's a rediscovery of an old military principle. "A leader can be wrong, he cannot be indecisive".

  27. Better solution: get a wife by spikenerd · · Score: 4, Insightful

    My wife makes all the decisions I couldn't care less about. That makes her happy. I follow her around while thinking about science, technology, philosophy, and all the things that make me happy. She doesn't like making big decisions. That's my area of expertise. She fills my life with diversity and excitement, and best of all, she gives me time to do what matters to me. Jobs, Obama, and Zuckerberg may have a lot of money, but I seem to have something they all desperately lack.

    I was once accused of failing to "wear the pants" in my marriage. I just smiled. Pants are overrated. They should only be worn when you care. I like the arrangement exactly the way it is.

  28. I am more extreme by Gorobei · · Score: 3, Funny

    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.

  29. Re:wow by MightyYar · · Score: 2

    I'll just never understand why anyone would care about what covers their feet as long as they are comfortable.

    I was converted in the 90s when women started - briefly - wearing trendy "comfortable" shoes. They were so fucking ugly that even *I* noticed that they looked bad. My wife can have a whole shoe room now, as far as I am concerned. Just don't dare have a pair of Birkenstocks in there.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  30. Introverts like novelty by sjbe · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Quite often they tend not to consider that introverts don't, and instead find the constant novelty draining.

    Novelty isn't inherently draining to an introvert - social interaction is. I'm an introvert myself, albeit not severely so and I am quite energized by novelty. I just don't much care what other find novel. Engineering and science research fascinate me whereas fashion and reality tv could not be more boring. Both have novelty as a component but the difference is one is internally directed and the other is externally directed.

  31. Not thinking enough... by GrantRobertson · · Score: 2

    For all those people who think this is silly... Who think that people who do this don't have the mental capacity to simply choose their clothes for the day....

    You aren't thinking enough. It is not a matter of not having the TOTAL mental capacity to choose clothing. It is a matter of not having the EXTRA mental capacity because we are spending so much of our capacity on other things. Some of us spend every waking minute (and many of our non-waking minutes) constantly thinking about a dozen different things. Interrupting that chain of thought for the mundane things is more trouble than it is worth. And it is not just picking the clothes. It is a hundred different things throughout the day, for which wasting even one minute's thought each adds up to about two hours of wasted thinking time per day, especially when you consider the time it takes to get back into what you were thinking about before.

    Read 'Your Brain at Work.' It is an excellent book about how your brain actually functions and how to maximize how much "work" you can get out of it per day. More and more research is showing that the more we can automatize in our daily lives, the more capacity we have left for what really matters.

  32. There are some things that shouldnt be optimised by PPalmgren · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.

  33. Re:Women by Vegan+Cyclist · · Score: 2

    I was going to comment on the gender issue as well, although the OP here took it in the wrong direction. I'm more inclined to suggest that women are less able to succeed because they're expected to dress up significantly more than men in many cases... How many men also put on make-up as well as choose from the clothes they wear? And how successful do you think any women would be if she wore the same outfit or two every day at work? (And what does it say that this even has to be asked??!) It seems a tad unbalanced, and something like this article could comment on that.

  34. Re:is that why he uses the same boring cliches? by operagost · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.
  35. Re:There are some things that shouldnt be optimise by Pope · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.
  36. making the same decisions, but at a different time by ffflala · · Score: 2

    Think of it like packing your bags for to catch a morning flight out for a two weeks' vacation. What they're describing is the difference between packing your luggage the night before (or earlier) and packing it the morning of your flight.

    For a lot of daily, repetitive actions it makes sense to think about them en masse. Planning your breakfast meals for a week, a month, or indefinitely allows you to think carefully --and once-- about the caloric content, nutrient balance, budget, time to prepare, time to eat, etc. Planning your outfits allows you the same luxury: it's easier to budget a the time spent dressing, laundering, and purchasing your clothes when you're not doing it over and over again every day.

    I heard a radio interview of an efficiency expert who was asked --snidely, as if a positive answer would mean he was incredibly anal-- if he carefully planned out his morning bathroom routine. He said, without reservation, that indeed he did: he'd thought through his morning routine, and on his bathroom counter he lined the various products up he would use in the order he would use them.

    Having these sorts of things set up for you just just step through without having to search for them is just like having your properly workstation configured: it saves you time and effort, and allows you to get started more quickly.

  37. Re:Shoes by hoboroadie · · Score: 2

    I alternate two pair of shoes so they can air out between wearings. It seems to decrease wear so I believe two pair lasts roughly three times as long as one pair of shoes.
    Going without socks I think I'd try a five-to-seven day shoe cycle. I like socks, and often go through two pair a day in summer.

    --
    They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
  38. Re:is that why he uses the same boring cliches? by Aighearach · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.