Jeff Bezos says successful people find ways to make a lot fewer decisions

"Run a small business and you probably feel like you make dozens of decisions every day. Whether to cut a quality corner, or miss a ship date. Whether to respond to a customer complaint, or hope the problem goes away. Whether to address an employee's behavior, or kick that can down the road. Then there are all the personal decisions. Whether to get up and going, or hit the snooze button."

"That's the beauty of processes and routines. Rules aren't restrictive. Rules are liberating, because rules free you up from having to make "decisions." Over time, those actions become habits. Then you definitely don't need to make a decision, because habits are effortless. ( In both good and bad ways, obviously.) Instead of wasting mental energy and willpower on "choosing," all you have to do is act."

"None of those are actually decisions, though, since you already know you should do so. Nearly everything you "decide" already has an answer. Quality problem? Fix it. Customer complaint? Respond. Underperforming employee? Address the behavior now; a performance issue takes care of itself. The same is true for personal "decisions." The nine minutes of sleep you get after hitting the snooze button isn't restorative sleep; you're better off setting your alarm for nine minutes later. (Or going to bed earlier.)"

Small business owners face numerous daily choices that often have obvious correct actions. Many operational dilemmas—quality issues, customer complaints, underperforming employees—have clear responses that should be executed immediately. Personal decisions like skipping exercise or hitting snooze similarly benefit from predefined rules. Routines and processes remove the need to deliberate, turning repeated actions into effortless habits and conserving mental energy. Habits can be beneficial or harmful depending on their design. Establishing rules frees focus for a small number of high-impact decisions that require careful thought, improving overall effectiveness and reducing decision fatigue.

Read at Fast Company