Issue 114: Decision Fatigue
đ Good Morfternight, this is Paolo, announcing a big change!
This is the 114th and last edition of Morfternight.
You may have picked up last week that I introduced issue 113 not as your ânewsletter on Product, Leadership, and Technology,â but as your âDigital Postcard on Tools and Thoughts for Leaders.â
What does this mean?
Weâre not ending things; we are revolutionizing! And that revolution is called simplification.
đŁÂ A More Focused Newsletter for More Impactful Content!
In one of my old blog posts, I wrote:
Choice is like lasagna. In the right amount, it is the best thing in the world, but if you have too much, you end up regretting it.
(Isn’t it fascinating I actually wrote that sentence, and even more that I would quote myself later on? đ)
I realized Morfternight was getting a bit cluttered with too many subjects. I think the core difference between a newsletter and a blog is that while you visit the latter at your best convenience, you invite the former into your inbox.
As a consequence, the least a newsletter should do is to keep week after week the promise it made when it convinced you to subscribe to it.
To offer you more tailored and impactful content, I’m excited to announce a big change: Morfternight will be replaced by a more focused newsletterâTools & Thoughts for Leaders on TTL.blog.
I’ll be publishing my photos on Monochrome.blog, and I’ll continue posting my other thoughts and adventures on Paolo.blog.
Why?
This idea stems from a concept thatâs been on my mind for a while: decision fatigue.
I am not good at making small decisions. I suffer from all the imaginable buzzwords: fear of missing out, opportunity cost, buyerâs remorse. You name it, I have it.
In these conditions, each decision, no matter how small, requires energy. This leads to decision fatigue: when the energy reserves for making decisions are depleted, and you start making poor ones.
When I noticed how much time and energy I was wasting, I began simplifying my choices.
From shaving my head to eliminate hair maintenance to adopting a wardrobe of identical clothesâinspired by icons like Barack Obama and Steve Jobs who advocated for minimalism to combat decision fatigueâI found peace, and efficiency, in routine.
Need an example?
On average, we spend approximately 15 minutes each day deciding what to wear, totaling a staggering 91 hours annually. Over a lifetime, this translates to nearly 342 days of awake time, starting from age 20 and considering an 80-year life expectancy. To reclaim this precious time, I propose a simple solution: select a favorite outfit, stock up on identical pieces and wear it every day.
This is my goal with this newsletter: simplify, categorize, and organize.
Think of it like this: focusing my newsletter on a specific subject is like pruning a tree to allow it to grow stronger.
With this, I can commit to sharing Tools & Thoughts for Leaders each Sunday.
Simultaneously, I keep a way of sharing my photos whenever I have new ones, and the freedom to share on my blog all other thoughts on various subjects.
It’s about trimming away the excess to deliver the juiciest, ripest fruit of knowledge with every read!
Limitations: Your Unexpected Best Friend in Creativity
You know what they say: creativity thrives when you’re boxed in!
The epiphany came from an interview with photographer Alan Schaller, who described how self-imposed limitations, like using a single lens and shooting only in black and white, enhanced his creativity and defined his style.
I adopted a similar approach.
Embracing limitations challenges you to think differently and find innovative solutions. It’s about turning constraints into opportunities.
Hopefully, this division will be the stepping stone to my next creative breakthrough here!
So, what happens next? âď¸
Easy.
Morfternight is outta here, making way for these three new newsletters:
- TTL: Tools & Thoughts for Leaders: Morfternightâs worthy heir: delve deep into practical leadership tips and effective strategies. My main focus areas are tech leadership & managing distributed teams.
- Paolo.blog: My personal blog, where my thoughts roam free beyond leadership: everything that doesnât fit in TTL will be stored here.
- Monochrome.blog: You know it: when Iâm not working, I enjoy black & white photography. This is where youâll find all my photos.
If you do nothing, you will continue to receive everything, but separately.
Now you know exactly what each offers: receive all three, or easily opt out of any that don’t float your boat.
Stay tuned for the first editions of the new newsletters and join me in celebrating the creativity that comes from embracing limitations!
đ¸Meanwhile, in âŚ
I took this photo in Oceanside, not far from San Diego, California, in 2023
Just as clear subjects in photography guide viewers on what to focus on, organizing newsletter content into simplified and categorized sections directs readers’ attention to specific topics of interest. Itâs all about making it easy for you to find what interests you most, minimizing overwhelm and maximizing your enjoyment of each edition.
Keep in mind, this will be the last time a photo is included in this newsletter, so enjoy it.
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Until we meet againâŚ
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Cheers,
P.S.:  If you enjoyed reading this, please donât hesitate, and share it.
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