The ObservatoryStructure is freedom, not force
Routines often get a reputation for being dull. In fact they are what frees your energy for what actually matters.
There is a persistent myth that structure and spontaneity are opposites — that someone who plans their everyday life has given up freedom. Turn it around. Every decision you do not have to make again is energy you get back. A routine is not a cage you sit in. It is the floor you stand on while you do everything else.
Think about how much of your day goes to small decisions: when should I eat, what, when should I go to bed, should I exercise now or later. Each one on its own is small. Together they drain you. Research on habits shows why: an action that has become routine is guided by cues in the environment and requires almost no willpower. You do it, rather than negotiating with yourself about it.
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Why does it work?
Builds on the basic finding of habit research that routine behaviors are guided by cues in the environment and require minimal willpower, unlike decisions that are made again each time (compare Wendy Wood's research on the automaticity of habits). No specific study of "decision fatigue" is tested in the article — the reasoning is an application of established habit theory, not a separate proven finding of its own.
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