Boring Is Productive – Robert C. Pozen – HBS Faculty – Harvard Business Review

Boring Is Productive – Robert C. Pozen – HBS Faculty – Harvard Business Review.

Whatever you think of his politics, you have to admit that Barack Obama has a very demanding schedule. The president’s typical day might include a ceremony celebrating Team USA’s Olympic athletes, meetings with his cabinet and military advisors, several speeches to campaign supporters, and phone calls with foreign leaders.

In an article for October’s Vanity Fair, author Michael Lewis explored some of these behind-the-scenes details of President Obama’s daily life. To prepare for the article, Lewis spent six months in close company of the president — playing in his high-energy basketball games, sitting up front in Air Force One, and chatting with him whenever the president had a free moment.

There was one particular question that Lewis asked repeatedly of President Obama. Lewis presented the president with the following scenario: “Assume that in thirty minutes you will stop being president. I will take your place. Prepare me. Teach me how to be president.”

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.

…………. 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.” 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.