Keeping Simple Rules

Mostly, I drink coffee and water.

Most of the time, that’s it, usually black coffee the first half of the day and water the second half.

This is one of my simple rules, things I do to manage complexity, avoid silliness, and maintain a healthy life. It’s not enshrined anywhere, nor is it non-negotiable or true every single day; it’s just what I’ve fallen into doing and deliberately chosen to continue because it works well enough for me.

It’s something I no longer need to think about, and don’t have to reevaluate every time I’m given a choice of what to drink. Good! There are too many other things for me to ponder over, and I don’t care enough about wide-ranging taste in beverages or becoming a connoisseur to make it a priority. (And when I do drink something else, it sticks out so I value it more anyway).

I used to love drinking juice. Not anymore, far too much sugar in practically every case and not enough actual juice in many cases. I’d love to again, provided it meets my standards. Unless and until it does, I won’t.

Why does this matter?

Because each day the world grows more complex, and our need for simple rules grows with it.

We don’t necessarily need to deal in absolute rules, just most-of-the-time rules we generally follow.

If you have to think about whether to answer work emails late at night or not, you’re in a bad way. That means every time you get one, you have to repeat the tortuous decision-making process once again--is it too late, or do I have to answer a boss but not a colleague, or do I for something actually urgent?

What you need is a simple rule: I won’t after X time. I won’t on weekends. I won’t if it interrupts something more meaningful.

Soon enough, people you work with will probably start understanding without your having to point fingers or make a big deal about it. You may not have to say much about it, if your actions reflect it.

Just gradually ease them away from expectations you don’t want them to have, and be disciplined in following through. (And, of course, don’t email them late either.)

The same goes for buying faux-food at the grocery store.

If you always have to choose to stay away from the tasty body-rotters in the processed food sections or in the middle of the grocery store, you will lose a lot of battles.

You will lose because you’re really hungry, or in a hurry, or because you don’t know what you’re looking for and you’re just grabbing the things you’ve normally gotten in the past.

That’s the problem right there. In the absence of simple rules, you rely on habits, possibly bad ones. Without clear and simple rules for yourself that you’ve designed for your own good, you’re back in the tortuous decision-making maze once again.

You probably do what feels comfortable simply because the precedent has been set and it’s become customary, for better or worse.

That’s also the bright spot. It means that you need to set up a good rule and follow it diligently and consciously only for a little while. At that point, a new precedent has been set and you’ll start to follow it with less and less conscious effort.

That’s really important; you can shift your habitual set point for the better.

Day by day, the internet grows more connected and more voluminous. There are more people making more news, and vastly more people making more noise.

Simple rules must come into play for all of us: I will only read news in the morning and never watch meaningless talking heads. I will only use social media after X time. I’ll never walk down the street staring at my phone. I’ll only watch that stupid TV show I can’t stop watching if I exercise, and only one episode per day, and so on.

Rules such as these--clear, simple, useful, obvious in how to violate and where to pick up again if you do--are what we humans need to reduce the clutter in our heads and to navigate the world we live in. We need them to easily sort through numerous choices, avoid decision fatigue, save time, save money, determine what truly has value for us and what doesn’t, and make sense of our surroundings.

We will only need them more as time goes on and complexity goes up. Rules such as these are what save us from being overwhelmed.

So, what’s one of yours?