The Quiet Power of Strategic Defaults

Last week, I made a big decision: I delegated Wolo Yoga’s performance marketing to an agency.

Before that, I was handling ads in-house. Every week, I had to decide which campaigns to launch, which ones to pause, how much budget to allocate, and what creative to test. It felt manageable — until it wasn’t.

As the business grew, so did the decisions. Tiny choices stacked up until they started draining my focus for more important work: brand building, partnerships, and long-term growth.

Delegating wasn't just about saving time. It was about setting a new default. Instead of spending mental energy deciding on ads every week, the baseline became simple: the agency runs it. I review only when needed.

That simple change made a huge difference. And it got me thinking—the real game isn't about doing more. It's about deciding less.

Steve Jobs and the Black Turtleneck

It reminds me of something about Steve Jobs.

He wore the same outfit daily: a black Issey Miyake turtleneck, Levi's jeans, and New Balance sneakers.

This wasn’t a marketing gimmick. It was how he lived.

In Walter Isaacson’s biography Steve Jobs, it’s revealed that Jobs had "hundreds" of identical turtlenecks made by Miyake. Jobs explained, "I decided I wanted to wear the same thing every day. It made life simpler."

Jobs understood that every small decision carried a cost. By ​eliminating trivial choices​, he freed his mind to focus on bigger problems: designing revolutionary products, building a legendary company, and shaping the future of technology.

One decision. Made once. Freed him every day.

How Fatigue Shapes Judgment

In 2011, researchers from Columbia University and Ben-Gurion University studied more than 1,100 parole decisions made by Israeli judges over ten months. Their goal was simple: to learn how factors other than legal merit might influence decisions.

What they found was striking.

Prisoners who appeared before the judge early in the day had about a 65% chance of being granted parole. As the day progressed, approval rates dropped sharply, eventually nearing zero just before the judges' scheduled breaks.

After a food or rest break, approval rates jumped back up, only to decline again as the next session wore on.

It wasn’t that the cases themselves got weaker. It was that the judges, worn down by the effort of making repeated decisions, defaulted to the safer, easier choice: deny parole.

Decision fatigue made them more conservative, more risk-averse, and less willing to deliberate carefully.

If experienced judges making life-altering decisions are vulnerable to decision fatigue, it’s a reminder that the hundreds of small choices we face daily, even when they seem minor, can quietly erode our mental sharpness too.

Building Strategic Defaults

Protecting your energy and focus doesn’t require a massive overhaul. Often, small shifts make the biggest difference.

Here are a few areas worth considering:

1. Spot the friction

Where do decisions pile up for you?

• Choosing meals?
• Finding time to exercise?
• Figuring out savings or spending?
• Planning your daily work?

Wherever you notice hesitation or repeated debate, you’ve likely found a place ready for a better default.

Pause and notice these patterns. The first step to better defaults is simply awareness.

2. Decide once, then let it run

Every default starts with a single choice you make up front.

• Meal prepping on Sundays can take weekday choices off your plate.
• Fixing workout days (like Monday, Wednesday, Friday) can turn fitness into a rhythm, not a negotiation.
• ​Automating savings and investments​ can turn good intentions into real momentum.
• Blocking certain times for deep work can protect your best hours for thinking and building.

You’re not removing freedom, you’re getting rid of friction. The more you automate, the more space you create for things that truly matter.

3. Match your best energy with your best work

Not all hours are created equal. If you're like me, you want to ​wake up early​ for your best work.

Mornings, for most people, offer sharper focus and better decision-making capacity. Reserve these hours for your most important, high-leverage work: thinking, building, creating.

Save low-stakes tasks—emails, errands, admin work—for later in the day when mental energy naturally dips.

Protecting your peak hours can often do more for your growth than working longer hours ever could.

Quit Doing Unnecessary Work

The goal isn’t to live like a robot. It’s to free your mind for what really matters.

High performers don’t avoid hard work. They avoid unnecessary work.

Every default you set today saves a hundred decisions tomorrow. And over time, those saved decisions compound into sharper focus, better choices, and bigger wins.

So ask yourself:

What’s one small decision you can eliminate today—and never have to make again?