Lately, there has been a lot of talk about why Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs wore the same shirt to work every day. According to sources, Zuckerberg did it to reduce the number of decision he had to make each day. Zuckerberg said, “I really want to clear my life so that I have to make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best serve this (Facebook) community.” Jobs, who is known for his Issey Miyake designed black turtleneck and blue jeans, did it to establish himself as a brand.

Regardless of their reasons, they both had one less decision to make every day that freed up their thought energy for bigger questions like:

– How do we keep a billion people intimately connected?
– How do we become a leader in photo sharing?
– How do we revolutionize the music industry?
– What do people really want in a mobile device?

Solving big problems for other people is what brings them joy (and a lot of money). They care about their customers more than their clothing. When you’re trying to put a dent in the universe, worrying about what they wear—which could be a 30 minute decision everyday—becomes pretty insignificant.

The difference between Zuckerberg and Jobs versus someone who has to wear an uniform is that their choice was intentional. It was a “once-for-a-lifetime” choice that was automated thereafter. Once Steve Jobs committed to the idea, Miyake made about 100 turtlenecks for Jobs. Jobs said, “I have enough to last for the rest of my life.” The power isn’t in the uniform—it’s in the participation in daily  choices that matter and the automation of ones that don’t.

Zuckerberg and Jobs wanted to save their creativity for their work. For some people, choosing what they wear is the only time they feel creative throughout their day and they spend lots of time figuring out what to wear. For others, it may be cooking or what they do with their family in evening. And then there are those who don’t feel creative at all. When we don’t feel creative or we feel like we don’t have any say in the way our day is going to go, life gets boring pretty fast.

Sometimes total freedom leads us to be overwhelmed by choice. While we rebel against structure when it is imposed on us, we need structure to achieve mastery; otherwise we enter of state of entropy. Instead of longing for total freedom that may be far from where you are, why not decide which aspect of your life you would like to be creative in right now.

Every day, we have the opportunity to make thousands of choices from what we wear to what we eat and when to how we work. Any choice that we fail to make for ourselves automatically gets made for us by life and other people. When designing our lives, it’s important for us to determine which of the four categories we want our choices to fall into:

1. Possible: What are all of our choices (everyone doesn’t see the same choices)
2. Active: Which choices we want to be intentional about but leave open (i.e. being vegetarian)
3. Automate: Which choices we want to be intentional about by automating (i.e. wearing the same shirt)
4. Passive: Which choices we’re okay not making (i.e. allowing my boss or clients to determine my work day)

Below is a list of 50+ choices we all have the opportunity to make every day. Cross out the ones you don’t think are possible. And then choose the ones you want to be active about, the one you want to automate, and the ones you are willing to be passive about.

Wake Up

1. What time? 6am? 7am? 8am? When I feel like it?
2. What kind of alarm? Loud and annoying? Or calm and serene?
3. What’s the first thing I do? Shower? Meditate? Exercise? Pray? Read spiritual text? Have pillow talk?
4. What do I wear? Something different? Or the same thing?

Breakfast

1. Do I eat? Yes? No?
2. What do I eat? Cereal? Oatmeal? Yogurt? Smoothie?
3. Is it hot or cold?
4. Is it food or drink?
5. Is it healthy or just filling?
6. Coffee or no coffee?
7. Buy it or make it?
8. Eat with family or not?
9. Sit and eat or eat on the go?

Commute

1. Do I commute?
2. If so, how far? How long?
3. Car, carpool, walk, bike, train, or a combination?
4. Do I work from home?
5. What do I do during my commute? People watch? Read the news? Listen to audio books? Check email? Sleep?

Work

1. What time do I get in? 8am? 9am? 11am?
2. Do I plan my day or just let it come to me?
3. What’s the first thing I do? Greet people? Check email? Design my day? Clear my desk?
4. When do I check email throughout the day? When it comes? When I have time? At certain times?
5. Do I take a break? If so, when? How often? How long?
6. What time do I leave work? 5pm? 6pm? When I’m done? When I’m tired? When my boss leaves?
7. Do I eat snacks? What kind? When?
8. Do I drink throughout the day? Water? Coffee? Soda? Juice?
9. Do I have uninterrupted work time? If so, when? Where? How long?
10. Do I prepare for tomorrow before I leave?

Lunch

1. Do I take lunch?
2. If so, what time?
3. How long?
4. Do I bring it or buy it?
5. Where? Outside? At my desk? In the cafeteria?
6. What do I do? Eat? Take a walk? Read? Call someone?
7. What do I eat?
8. Do I connect with someone?
9. Do I nap?
10. Do I run errands?

After Work

1. Do I go straight home?
2. Do I exercise? If so, how and how long? Bike? Run? Weight lift? Cross Fit? Yoga? Intramural sports?
3. Do I do something fun? A hobby? A movie? A bar? A date?
4. Do I continue my education? Reading? Online class? Certificate program?
5. Do I meet with someone? Friend? Mentor? Family?
6. Do I volunteer?
7. Do I call people I care about?
8. Do I go to the grocery store?
9. Do I buy take out?

Dinner

1. Do I eat dinner?
2. If so, what time?
3. What do I eat?
4. Do I cook it or buy it?
5. Do I eat with someone?
6. Do I eat and talk or do I eat and watch TV?
7. Do I cook something familiar or something new?

Before Bed

1. Do I do more work?
2. Do I check email?
3. Do I answer work calls?
4. Do I make personal calls?
5. Do I watch a favorite show or a new movie?
6. Do I take a bath or shower?
7. Do I pray?
8. Do I journal?
9. Do I write down what I’m grateful for?
10. What time do I go to sleep?

I hope this helps you be more intentional about your day. When you intentionally design your day, I think you’ll find yourself experiencing what Frank Kern calls Your Perfect Average Day.

Wishing you more happy hours,

Jullien Gordon