The one thing I took away from my degree in Economics is the concept of optimization. In economics, the proper resource allocation depends on what we are trying to minimize or maximize. A recipe for a perfect pie depends on your objective – are you trying to spend as little time on it as possible? Impress your guests? Spend the least amount of money on the ingredients? Or learn a new baking technique?
When it comes to designing a life strategy for ourselves, we need to answer the same question: What are we optimizing for?
You can optimize for a variety of things:
- Retirement
- Weekends
- A specific number in your bank account
- Status
- Memorable moments and experiences (vacations, concerts, etc.)
- Relationships
- Work outcomes (projects shipped, paintings created, books written, etc.)
- Reputation
- Spiritual growth
- And so on.
You can see how one approaches work, family, finances, and free time will be completely different depending on what they are trying to optimize their life around.
Knowing what you are optimizing for is crucial when deciding how to allocate your limited resources.
– “How should I live my life?”
– “It depends on what you are trying to achieve.”
My story of choosing what to optimize my life around
As for me, I’ve always been optimizing for the quality of a regular Tuesday.
Ever since I was a little girl, while others dreamed about big, beautiful weddings, I dreamed about a regular Tuesday—what it would look like when I grew up. What I’d see when I woke up. Who would be in my house. What I’d do during the day and in the evening. I’ve never dreamed of the grand and the exciting. My dreams have always been filled with seemingly mundane and ordinary moments.
Maybe it’s the math nerd in me who realized early on that the “boring” Monday-to-Friday makes up the major part of our lives and therefore deserves more scrutiny than weekends, vacations, or retirement.
As a result, whenever I face a choice, I ask myself: Will this improve the quality of my regular Tuesday in the future? If it won’t, I don’t stress over it.
A recent example of applying life optimization principle
We’re going on vacation next week for two weeks. My friends assume I’m busy planning the trip, packing my suitcase, creating itineraries, and researching all the spots I should visit. You know, the things you are supposed to do before a vacation.
In reality, I’ve spent very little time planning for this trip. Why? While I’m looking forward to a break after the intense summer season in our camping business, this trip is irrelevant to what I’m optimizing for. It won’t significantly affect the quality of my regular Tuesdays 2, 5, or 10 years from now. So I don’t stress over it.
But guess where I’ll be doing a lot of planning? In our upcoming move to Toronto. The house and neighborhood we choose will absolutely influence my regular Tuesdays. You’ll find me mapping out coffee shops, grocery stores, walkability scores, daycares, bike lanes, bookstores, and libraries. These are the things that will impact my everyday life. I’ll make it a BIG DEAL and won’t apologize for my thoroughness because it 100% aligns with what I’m optimizing my life around.
Use it when overwhelmed
This approach is also helpful when you’re overwhelmed by a long to-do list. Knowing what you’re optimizing for can help you remove unnecessary tasks, prune your calendar, and identify which commitments or meetings aren’t worth your time. It’s a great tool for choosing sprint goals and managing your backlog. Be ruthless in deleting anything that isn’t aligned with your life’s optimization goals.
Use it to manage finances
The same principle applies to managing finances. Money consists of endless decisions and trade-offs, but knowing what you’re trying to maximize or minimize helps simplify them. For example, one of the most expensive items in our house is our Miele coffee maker. It was a conscious choice because I’m a coffee snob connoisseur and can’t stand bad coffee. I use this machine multiple times a day, and I wanted it to be good. In contrast, I’m more than happy to thrift for other items that aren’t part of my regular Tuesday routine. I try to buy the things we won’t be using much or won’t be using for long second-hand (I talked about the cost per use here.)
The next upgrade on my list is a good set of knives since they’re a part of my regular daily routine at home. If you have recommendations, feel free to send me an email!
Use it to simplify your life
This principle also applies to major life decisions—where to live, what job to take, who to date, and which friendships to invest time and energy in. Most importantly, it helps you stop sweating over things that don’t matter in the grand scheme of what you’re optimizing for.
All it takes is an honest conversation with yourself: What do I want to optimize my life around? Look at your past behavior. What brought you the most happiness? What felt flat, even though society told you it would be amazing?
What do you remember the most from your life 2, 5, 10 years ago? Was stuck through the years? I always find it entertaining to recall shared moments with my husband. We always remember different things from living in different cities and our trips together. I tend to remember the day-to-day small things while he remembers the big highlights and famous attractions. What you remember from the past will, most likely, continue to be the things you remember in the future. So you might want to optimize your life around that.
Having this filter in mind is the key to simplifying and enjoying your life.
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