Less action – more benefit: how to bring order to your plans, belongings, and routes

To identify and eliminate actions that consume your energy and cause stress without bringing benefits, experts recommend applying the principles of “lean production.” Modern companies aim to conserve all types of resources, and many waste-reduction strategies can easily be adapted to everyday life and work tasks.

So how can you eliminate efficiency losses, become more productive, and feel less tired and stressed?

Get rid of unnecessary tasks

Many things we do simply out of inertia, a sense of duty, or for others’ approval. “Mom washed the curtains once a week—and I should too,” “We’ve always met up—I have to go.” Ask yourself more often why you are doing something, what it will give you, and what will change if you don’t do it. If the answer is “nothing,” then you can safely give up that action, saving time and energy.

Try to be guided by your own needs and goals rather than other people’s expectations. Learn to say “no” so you don’t take on someone else’s work. If necessary, a psychologist can help you understand your needs and strengthen your personal boundaries.

As for repetitive household tasks that take up your time day after day, it’s best to delegate them to technology—a robot vacuum, a washer-dryer, a dishwasher. If possible, set up automatic payments for utilities, mobile service, and internet bills—we spend a lot of attention just keeping track of these things. Repeating to ourselves, “Don’t forget!” and holding amounts and deadlines in our memory only makes us worry more and accumulate stress.

Reduce time losses and use waiting time wisely

Waiting is another “time eater.” Sitting in hospital lines, traffic jams, or waiting for late friends often makes us nervous and irritated. Make sure waiting no longer feels like wasted time. Always have an audiobook, podcast, or interesting lecture with you. Prepare a list of small tasks you can do on your smartphone: clean up your photo gallery, place an order on a marketplace.

By the way, don’t forget that online services today often allow you to avoid not only trips to the store but also exhausting visits to government offices.

Analyze what you spend the most time waiting for. If, for example, it’s a slow computer, then it’s definitely worth upgrading it to save time and nerves in the future.

Give up perfectionism

Trying to be perfect hosts, partners, or parents also wastes our energy. If you are used to doing something too meticulously—washing the floor with soap every day, ironing bed linen, painstakingly choosing the perfect outfit—ask yourself whether it’s really necessary and whether it makes you or anyone else happier. There’s no need to insist on a three-course dinner if you’re exhausted and your family is perfectly happy to eat dumplings.

Follow the rule of “good enough.” Often, 20% of effort gives us 80% of the result, and further improvements simply won’t justify the energy invested.

You can also save energy by standardizing your choices. By creating a capsule wardrobe and planning a menu for a couple of weeks ahead, you’ll free yourself from daily thoughts of “What should I wear?” and “What should I cook?”

Be kinder to yourself, reminding yourself that imperfection is completely normal. Often, it is perfectionism that prevents us from accomplishing everything we planned. And, as a rule, it’s much better to do something imperfectly and then improve it than not to do it at all.

Avoid excessive stockpiling

This refers to “on-sale” groceries we buy in bulk and don’t manage to eat before throwing away, clothes we purchase and never wear, and all the clutter we accumulate “just in case.” Unnecessary things don’t bring us peace—they bring discomfort, because we wasted time and money on things we don’t use.

Learn to approach consumption mindfully—buy groceries strictly according to a list, postpone spontaneous purchases to make sure you truly need and enjoy the item. The same principle applies to decluttering: keep only useful or joyful items, or make it a rule to get rid of one old item when buying a new one. The fewer things you have, the less cleaning is required—which means you’ll spend less time and energy on it.

There can also be “excess information.” Dozens of unnecessary newsletters, terabytes of unread emails and drafts, and especially tasks and ideas we keep in our heads can overload our brains. So clean out old folders regularly and write down your ideas to free up your “mental RAM.”

Optimize your routes

We often spend a huge amount of time and energy just getting somewhere. If you spend three hours a day commuting to the office, it might be worth considering changing your apartment or job—after all, you could use that precious time much more productively for self-development, rest, or time with loved ones.

Group errands outside the home by geography, optimizing your routes. It’s much better to visit the store, pharmacy, and pickup point in one trip than to stretch these tasks over three days.

Organize your belongings and information

Household chaos also wastes our time. To stop constantly searching for things and getting irritated, assign a specific place to every important item. This is especially true for documents, keys, cards, and chargers. By the way, it makes sense to have at least two phone chargers—one for home and one for work—to spare yourself the extra stress of “Don’t forget the charger!” You can also avoid unnecessary transportation of information by syncing your devices with cloud storage.

If you work in an office or remotely, make not only your physical workspace comfortable but also your computer desktop. Customize apps and programs to suit your needs. It also helps to process information in batches—for example, check email and messengers not after every notification but all at once, say, 3–4 times a day.

Prevent household mistakes that need fixing

Forgotten keys, burnt lunches, and missed loan payments can make you both nervous and waste extra time fixing the situation. It’s much better to prevent such mistakes in advance. Hang a checklist by the door: “Take keys, wallet, phone, turn off the lights.” Set up automatic loan payments. Train yourself to separate tasks—don’t scroll through social media while cooking, so you don’t end up choking on burnt dinner and scrubbing the stove.

If something keeps breaking and, instead of fixing it properly, you keep patching it up temporarily, that’s also a source of irrational time and energy costs. Our work tools—whether a computer, kitchenware, or an axe—deserve special care. It’s far more beneficial to spend time sharpening them in advance so the work becomes easier and more productive.

Try starting with any of these steps—reconsider your task priorities or get rid of excess—and soon you’ll feel the load on your shoulders lighten. And if you can’t resolve your problems on your own, be sure to seek support from a specialist who can teach you not only to preserve your resources but also to cope better with stress.