Who cares what you wear when you’re a billionaire?
Better yet – is the non-caring what makes self-made successful people… successful?
The opening scene of Clueless always felt like a cuter version of what we all go through in our heads upon opening the closet doors in the morning. Does it match? Is it right for today? How did my crotchless chaps get from the dungeon up to my daytime wardrobe? Too many decisions too early in the morning, right? But, in a way, that painful process of waking up my brain and channeling it into option-choosing mode kind of makes it easier to do the same for the rest of the day. It’s like I’m mentally prepping for being involved with the world. Makes it easier to do more decision making on the next thing that comes my way.
That’s why it surprised me when I read this Elite Daily article about how successful people are successful in part because they wear the same damned thing every day. Maybe Obama can enlighten us on how it helps him do things like issue a low toned glottal “Ugghhhhh” for every five articles of language he employs (while deciding which ones to employ next).
Per Elitedaily:
“You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits,” Obama said. ‘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.’ He mentioned research that shows the simple act of making decisions degrades one’s ability to make further decisions.
Time for a Goss Pause while I try to figure out this logic as well as hunt for an internet needle of supporting evidence to this claim in the worldwide haystack…
….
Okay. Found it: “Decision Fatigue” is apparently a thing where our brains get tired from making too many irrelevant decisions every day. That’s why Zuckerberg, Obama, and Einstein didn’t bother with fashion variation, they say. Or to quote EliteDaily, “Simply put, by stressing over things like what to eat or wear every day, people become less efficient at work.”
While I understand the logic, I feel like there’s a key word in there:
“Stressing”.
Why are decisions something to stress over? The more things you decide to do out of fun versus drudgery, the more they become fun decisions to make. The only way choices about duds are drudgery is if you’re wearing them to job you dread, putting them on a body you’re not taking care of and are insecure about, or are just insecure in general about people not approving of your style. Change those things – not the fun of being a moving mannequin. All anyone has to do is alter their outlook. That’s the only logical thing I can blame at the root of the problem – because this whole “decision fatigue” thing runs counter to what we hear about our brains forming connections based on habits. Normally, the more we do something, the more it gets stamped into our brain. Why would decision-making be any different unless we’re keeping a bad attitude about it the whole time? Also, like dudes of ancient times have said: “We are what we repeatedly do” and “Excellence is a habit.”
So, wouldn’t it make sense that the more decisions we make, the more we’re excellent decision makers overall? Hey, maybe if Cher donates her wardrobe app to Barack., it’ll improve his decision making skills in other areas.
Like, for instance running the coun-…
Running the… like…?
Heh. I had a really good finale a second ago.
And now I can’t recall it at all.
Must be decision fatigue setting in from choosing both breakfast and blue jeans today.