From Spontaneous to Automatic: Making Tomorrow’s Choices Today encapsulates the concept of transforming our decision-making processes. It suggests a shift from impulsive, spur-of-the-moment choices towards a more deliberate and proactive approach.

On the surface, it may seem absurd to claim that thinking and decision-making are bad. However, let me clarify what I mean. Thinking is good, but it has its proper time, as does decision-making. The earlier you think and make decisions, the better off you’ll be. For example, if you wake up in the morning and then decide whether to exercise or not, it’s too late.

That decision should have been made long ago, determining if you will exercise daily or on specific days. When you wake up, that decision should already have been made, and you should automatically execute that action. Thinking about it at that point and making a decision is futile, counterproductive, and detrimental. If you make a decision at that point, you’ve already lost half of the battle. By postponing your decision, you decrease your success probability by 50%.

If you make decisions ahead of time and leave no room for negotiation, your success rate is 100%. The same principle applies to food selection, entertainment choices, and work-related activities. By making decisions ahead of time and following through with habits, you remove mental energy from the equation, leaving just execution. I have named this phenomenon “Proactive Autopilot: Mastering Decision-Making and Habits for Optimal Living.”

Failing to make decisions ahead of time often leads to unhealthy choices. When we don’t plan in advance, we tend to make decisions based on convenience, immediate gratification, or external influences rather than our long-term well-being. This can result in poor food choices, sedentary lifestyles, or even procrastination in important areas of our lives. By adopting the Proactive Autopilot approach, we prioritize our goals and values, allowing us to make healthier choices that support our overall well-being and align with our long-term objectives. Planning and decision-making ahead of time help us overcome the pitfalls of impulsive and unhealthy choices, paving the way for a more balanced and fulfilling life.

“Plant the seeds of decisive decisions today, and reap the harvest of an effortless tomorrow, where clarity and purpose pave the way to enduring success.”

Shams Khan

In spontaneous life, you let outside stimuli determine your actions, making you easily influenced by your environment. In contrast, automatic life involves deliberate thinking and setting criteria for actions based on desired outcomes. While spontaneity has its place in certain situations, it should not be a way of life.

To succeed, you must remove thinking and decision-making from your daily life. If you spend mental energy on mundane decisions, you deplete your capacity for tasks that truly need attention. In addition, constant distractions further reduce your focus. By making deliberate decisions and structuring your life, you can minimize distractions and be more productive.

“We tend to make incorrect decisions when experiencing cognitive overload, which means we’ve exhausted our cognitive bandwidth and are running low on cognitive power.”

Shams Khan

In today’s age, we are expected to respond to phone calls or text messages instantly. However, by setting expectations with loved ones and business contacts, you can establish designated times to address their needs while respecting your own time. Research shows that dealing with distractions immediately disrupts focus, causing you to spend more time on the original task. By making decisions ahead of time and creating an automatic life, you increase your chances of success and productivity.

Continuing to create an automatic life involves planning and organizing your daily activities, setting priorities, and establishing healthy habits. This way, you can ensure that your mental energy is allocated to tasks that truly matter and are aligned with your long-term goals.

“Habits operate by turning what would typically be a deliberate, effortful choice into a simple automatic action.”

Shams Khan

Habits can also be a consistent tendency to react to specific cues in certain ways. Our conscious mind can train our subconscious mind to handle repetitive tasks seamlessly and effortlessly, without any deliberate decision-making.

Here are some steps to help you transition from a spontaneous life to an automatic life:

• Set clear goals: Determine what you want to achieve in various areas of your life, such as health, career, relationships, and personal growth. Break these goals down into smaller, manageable objectives.
• Prioritize tasks: Identify the most important tasks that will bring you closer to your goals. Focus on these tasks first, ensuring they receive your full attention and energy.
• Create a schedule: Allocate specific times in your day for essential activities, such as exercise, work, meals, and personal time. This will help you establish a routine and minimize decision-making throughout the day.
• Develop healthy habits: Cultivate habits that support your goals, such as regular exercise, healthy eating, and maintaining a consistent sleep schedule. Over time, these habits will become automatic, reducing the need for constant decision-making.
• Minimize distractions: Identify and eliminate sources of distraction, such as excessive social media use or constant notifications. Set boundaries with others, letting them know the best times to contact you and when you need focused time for work or personal activities.
• Review and adjust: Regularly assess your progress towards your goals and make adjustments as needed. This may involve changing habits, reallocating time, or setting new priorities.
• Practice self-discipline: Developing an automatic life requires self-discipline and consistency. Hold yourself accountable for following through with your plans and habits, even when it’s challenging.

By adopting these strategies, you can transition from a spontaneous, reactive life to an automatic, proactive one. This will enable you to better manage your time, energy, and focus, ultimately leading to greater success and fulfillment.

There are certain decisions that, once made, can serve as guiding principles for the rest of your life. These lifetime decisions establish a solid foundation for your values, priorities, and habits, providing a stable framework for your personal and professional growth. By committing to these lifelong choices, you create a sense of consistency and purpose in your life, enabling you to navigate challenges more effectively and stay focused on your long-term goals. Here are some examples of decisions I have made for life, which have helped shape my path and provide clarity in various aspects of my existence:

Rule	For
Always drop off kids to school in the mornings. Each day spend time with kids	Family
Have dinner together with family. Be done with food by 7pm.	Family
Pay bills, admin work, & personal chores from 4pm to 5pm.	Finance
Work on achieving financial freedom, and have emergency fund available	Finance
Never invest in any ventures where you don't have control. Never invest out of US. Never go in business venture with friend & family	Finance
Check business and personal finances on monthly basis	Finance
Never buy individual stocks or crypto coins. Only buy mutual funds & ETFs.	Finance
Drink 1 glass of water as you wake up, 1 glass before every meal for a total of 8 glasses of water every day. Don't use plastic bottles	Health
Whenever you eat unhealthy skip the next meal	Health

Exercise daily. (strength training, yoga, walk, spinning & high intensity interval training (HITT)).	Health
Keep waist at 32 inches & weight at 155 pounds & body fat at 12% all the times	Health
When everyone goes for ice cream, you should get coffee or cappuccino (Coffee should be black and cappuccino should be in almond milk	Health
Keep all unhealthy foods in home pantry & never walk inside the pantry	Health
Spend at least two hours in nature every week by going to local park once a week	Health
Did the activities I engaged in and the food I consumed today increase or decrease inflammation in my body?	Health
Walk at least 8K to 10K steps a day	Health
Say No to a list of items and Minimize your food intake for certain items	Health
Fast for 12 hours on Tue, Wed, Fri, Sun & 18 hours on Mon, Thy, Sat	Health
Eat organic, daily consume 120-150 grams of protein, whole foods with less sugar, bread, processed & fried food and meat.	Health

Sit in sauna for 20 minutes each on Sat and Sun. See your chiropractor, dentist and masseuse once a quarter. Consult your doctors as needed.	Health
Read every day at least one hour. Read 52 books a year. Double your speed reading	Learning
Regularly spend time on your hobbies (AI, Poetry, Photography, Astronomy, writing, music, learning, etc)	Learning
Keep track of your time, food, learning, exercise and other activities on a daily basis	Lifestyle
Eat out only 2 times a week - At the most. Attend social gathering 2 times a week - At the most	Lifestyle
Be in a pleasant state of mind 24/7 and lead a life of contentment. Pray and show gratitude	Mindfulness
Live mindfully in the present. Strive for a simple but focused & balanced life	Mindfulness
Daily Meditate or use Mendi Headband - From 7:15-7:30 for 15 minutes	Mindfulness
Immediately shun a negative thought as soon as it comes to you	Mindfulness
Change the source of your dopamine from unproductive/unhealthy to productive/healthy	Mindfulness

Put gas in car on Tue at 6:45 am or Fri at 6:45 am	Productivity
Prioritize tasks based on their importance, deadlines and my level of self control and attention	Productivity
Exercise virtue ( compassion, moderation, self control, kindness, honesty, integrity, generosity, and gratitude) and improve your character to be the best version of yourself that is better than yesterday	Virtue
Deploy reason in all your undertakings of the day. Use your brains to make life on this plant better for others, and therefore for yourselves	Virtue
Be kind to everyone at every time & Surround yourself with people you admire	Virtue
Let go of your ego and talk less and be positive. Be a nice guy. Overconfidence is a sign of ignorance.	Virtue
Take responsibility for everything in your life	Virtue
Appreciate each and everything, person and breath in your life. Write 3 things you are grateful for in your gratitude journal on a daily basis - From 7am - 7:15am	Virtue
Read your 50 decisions/rules of life, every week	Virtue
Close all distractions in life (social media, news, TV, unplanned interferences)	Virtue

Have optimal body and mind with perfect character in all walks of life	Virtue
Sleep 9pm - 5am everyday. Wake up at 5am, regardless of what time you go to bed	Well Being
Daily Plan & document. Follow your schedule. Follow morning and nightly routines. Never do any task before scheduling it. Then follow your schedule	Well Being
Spend time with close family & selected friends. Don't let others steal your most precious asset (time)	Well Being
Continuously close chapters in your life	Well Being
Keep fixed schedule for work: 40 hours during tax season, 30 hours during off season	Work
Set Client appoints from 1pm to 5pm from Month only.	Work
Check emails twice a day on weekdays only at 11:30 am & 3:30 pm	Work
Never work more than 8 hours a day. Never work after 5pm	Work
It's more important what the group accomplishes as opposed to what you accomplish	Work

Use standing desk, balance board, balance ball, wobble cushion while working with 5 min break every half an hour

Work