Limit recurring low-stakes decisions to 3-7 options…

When This Fires

• When recurring daily decisions (meals, wardrobe, routes, breaks) consume more cognitive energy than they warrant
• When decision fatigue accumulates from hundreds of small choices throughout the day
• When applying Categorize weekly decisions as routine or novel — build…'s routine-vs-novel classification and automating the routine decisions
• Complements Reduce options to 5-7 before evaluating — choice overload… (option reduction before evaluation) with the recurring-decision-specific range

Common Failure Mode

Maintaining infinite option sets for low-stakes recurring decisions: "I want to keep all my options open for lunch." Keeping all options open means choosing from 50 restaurants every day — consuming decision resources on a choice that doesn't warrant them. Pre-reducing to 5 go-to restaurants produces fast, satisfying lunch decisions that preserve cognitive resources for consequential choices.

The Protocol

(1) Identify recurring low-stakes decision domains: meals, clothing, breaks, routes, entertainment, errands. (2) For each domain, reduce the active option set to 3-7: your 5 go-to lunch spots, your 4 work outfits, your 3 preferred coffee shops. (3) The reduction is pre-decided: you don't choose from the full set daily. You choose from the curated set. (4) Rotate the curated set periodically (monthly or quarterly) to prevent boredom while maintaining decision simplicity. (5) Reserve full optionality for novel or high-stakes decisions (Reduce choices for routine/low-stakes/high-frequency…) — choice reduction is for the routine and recurring only.