A small decision is something trivial:

• What to have for breakfast
• What to wear
• When to begin work
• When to take your lunch break
• Etc.

Many of these small decisions can be automated and routinized by deciding in advance… thus, effectively removing them as unique decisions you have to make every single day.

By automating your small decisions and eliminating them from your life, you can save your much-needed energy in order to allow for a greater capacity to focus on the bigger decisions of your day-to-day life and the more challenging problems you are trying to solve.

“You can’t be going through the day distracted by trivia.”

Years ago, in an interview with Vanity Fair, President Obama shared why he would only wear gray or blue suits:

You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits. 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. You need to focus your decision-making energy.

You need to routinize yourself. You can’t be going through the day distracted by trivia.