The 5 systems that changed my productivity & my life forever

So system one is automations.

And I will say up front that this one's a bit of a cheat.

Yes, it's system one.

And we're already cheating because it's actually a lot of little systems bundled into one.

But the idea behind all of them is the same.

Anything in your life that is predictable and recurring should not require a decision every time it happens.

For me, this falls into two areas.

The first is financial.

My investing and savings go out on a standing order on payday.

I don't decide what I'm investing in that month.

It just happens in an automated way before I've even looked at my account.

And removing that decision removes the negative friction entirely.

And it means that all of these habits that I've realized that are important parts of my life happen every single month without me having to motivate or discipline myself into it or have a to-do list where I actually remember everything or think about all of the other things that I might want to buy with that money when I've already said that that's how much I'm setting aside.

I also do this with all of my bills and it just makes sure that on the first day of the month, I am not having to have a whole extra to-do list for things that could just be automated.

The second side of this automation is physical stuff and other things I consume.

So my razors are on subscription.

My skincare refills are on subscription.

My regular food shop is a saved template that I can reorder in about 40 seconds.

And I think when you're a busy person, you don't realize the time that you end up fritting away on small little errands that don't actually need to be thought through every single time.

I know that sounds minor, but I personally think that decision fatigue is a massive thing when you are doing a lot of different things.

And if you are trying to succeed in a lot of different things, you do not want to be thinking about whether you're succeeding in ordering your razor or your skincare.

You wanna be able to focus your effort on the thing that's actually gonna move the needle in your life.

Every small decision you make uses a bit of precious brain space and energy, and automating the predictable stuff frees up that time for the things that actually need it.

In order to do this, I'd really suggest writing down everything you buy or do on a regular basis.

And first of all, ask yourself if you need all of those things.