Best Healthy Habits for Life: Reducing Decision Making and Easy Health Hacks

Sometimes there are big themes in your life that just keep coming up everywhere you look. And the one that keeps stalking me is a total lightbulb moment that is best simplified below:

Making habits= reduction in decision making fatigue=automatic good habits + saving willpower/brain power for hard shi*.

Reducing decision making by creating routines or habits leads to automatic behavior for the better. And by creating an automatic system, your brain power, your willpower and your decision making 'reserve' is saved for the choices that are more important and harder to make. For example: if every five minutes, you are picking email or call or copy A or copy B or should I eat the doughnuts in the office or what color sweater am I going to wear...by the time you get your behind half way through a commute you couldn't care less what you're eating for dinner as long as it's fast and easy. Too bad that one thing could be what's really keeping you from losing weight. 

But think instead if you create systems and habits for each of these minuscule activities how much decision making fatigue you could avoid to save for that drive home for what's for dinner (Or reverse-you could pre plan dinner for the month...or I could do it for you). 

Some people wear the same thing (or same basics) every day so they don't have to expend energy or brain power deciding what to wear. Which is why Steve Jobs had a thing for black turtlenecks. Or some designers literally wear the same shoes, pants and shirt in different colors every day. My husband had a design professor who wore I think all black and chucks every day. Other people eat the same 3 breakfasts every day. They minimize their little daily decisions to save that decision making for...say it with me: more important things. 

Watch the video below I shot for YouTube that explain the studies behind the science:

In the video I told you all I wanted to do some digging into my own habits to see how I could improve or to help you spark ideas of what you could be doing. See the lists to get your wheels turning!

Doing on the daily:

• Keep hydrated:
  • water bottles already filled in fridge
  • calorie free seltzer chilled in the fridge
• Make healthy snack and meal choices
  • smoothie ingredients in the freezer
  • always have greens in the house
  • fresh juice pre-bottled and ready to go 
  • always have an easy protein dense snack option (cottage cheese/chicken)
  • knowing the healthy spots around my office building
  • healthy dinner menu for the month planned on my GSD pads
• Keeping the house stocked with healthy
  • whenever something is finished, I re-add it to my app WunderList
  • CSA subscription
• Starting new healthy habits
  • 'take fish oil' is on my ToDoist app for daily reminders
  • lifting arm weights, ditto

Want to add in:

• Having lunch pre-made so I don't skip it
  • When I work from my home office, sometimes I get distracted and forget to eat which leads to just eating whatever to boost my blood sugar. When I pack the husband's lunch for work the night before, I need to pack one for me.
• Hydrating even better
  • Bring a drink to my desk, every morning
• Move more
  • Use my JawboneUp24 to set a 'movement reminder' to vibrate when I sit too long

I'm curious to know: What are your habits and what are you adding in?