about stress, mentioned using this
strategy himself in a recent interview:
You need to remove from your life the
day-to-day problems that absorb most
people for meaningful parts of their
day... 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. You need to
focus your decision-making energy.
You need to routinize yourself. You
can't be going through the day
distracted by trivia. –President
Obama, Vanity Fair
Take Five (or Ten) Minutes to Do
Something You Find Interesting
If there were something you could
add to your car's engine, so that after
driving it a hundred miles, you'd end
up with more gas in the tank than you
started with, wouldn't you use it?
Even if nothing like that exists for
your car just yet, there is something
you can do for yourself that will have
the same effect... doing something
interesting. It doesn't matter what it
is, so long as it interests you. Recent
research shows that interest doesn't
just keep you going despite fatigue, it
actually replenishes your energy. And
then that replenished energy flows
into whatever you do next.
Keep these two very important points
in mind: First, interesting is not the
same thing as pleasant, fun, or
relaxing (though they are certainly
not mutually exclusive.) Taking a
lunch break might be relaxing, and if
the food is good it will probably be
pleasant. But unless you are eating at
the hot new molecular gastronomy
restaurant, it probably won't be
interesting. So it won't replenish your
energy.
Second, interesting does not have to
mean effortless. The same studies
that showed that interest replenished
energy showed that it did so even
when the interesting task was difficult
and required effort. So you actually
don't have to "take it easy" to refill
your tank.
Add Where and When to Your ToDo List
Do you have a to-do list? (If you have
a "Task" bar on the side of your
calendar, and you use it, then the
answer is "yes.") And do you find that
a day or a week (or sometimes longer)
will frequently pass by without a
single item getting checked off?
Stressful, isn't it? What you need is a
way to get the things done that you set
out to do in a timely manner. What
you need is if-then planning (or what
psychologists call "implementation
intentions").
This particular form of planning is a
really powerful way to help you
achieve any goal. Nearly200 studies,