Ever feel like you're stuck on a hamster wheel just trying to keep up?
I know that feeling all too well. For years my life felt like a chaotic mess. I was just reacting to whatever came my way. I struggled with bad habits and felt like I was constantly busy but never actually making progress on the things that mattered. It was exhausting. I learned that getting my life in order wasn't about finding more willpower. It was about building better systems.
Automation sounds like a techy business term but it's really just a simple idea. It's about setting things up once so they run on their own. This frees up your brainpower and your time for what's truly important. It’s not about being lazy. It's about being smart with your energy.
Here are 10 simple ways I started automating my life. They helped me get unstuck and I hope they can help you too.
1. Automate Your Bill Payments
This is the easiest win on the list. Set up automatic payments for all your recurring bills like your phone, internet, and utilities. It takes about an hour to set up once. Then you never have to think about it again. No more mental energy wasted on remembering due dates. No more late fees because you forgot. It’s a small change that removes a lot of background stress.
2. Plan Your Meals for the Week
The question "What's for dinner?" used to drain me every single day. Now I don't ask it. On Sunday I spend about 30 minutes planning our meals for the week. I write down what we’ll eat each night and make a grocery list from that plan. When I was working to lose over 110 pounds this was a lifesaver. It took the guesswork and daily decision-making out of eating healthy. I made one good decision on Sunday instead of fighting temptation every night.
3. Create a Simple "Uniform"
I’m not talking about wearing the exact same thing every day unless you want to. For me this just means having a few go-to outfits that I know look good and feel comfortable. I have a few combinations for work days a few for the gym and a few for weekends. This completely removes the "I have nothing to wear" dilemma in the morning. Decision fatigue is real. Saving your brainpower for bigger problems starts with small things like this.
4. Let Your Groceries Come to You
Grocery shopping can eat up hours of your week. I started using a delivery service and it was a game-changer. I have a standard list of staples we buy every week like eggs milk coffee and fruit. I just click "reorder" and add anything else we need. It saves me time from driving and walking the aisles. It also saves me money because I’m not tempted by impulse buys at the checkout counter.
5. Use Recurring Reminders
Your brain is for having ideas not for holding them. I use a simple reminder app on my phone for any task that happens on a regular schedule.
- Take out the trash every Tuesday night.
- Water the plants every Saturday.
- Call my grandmother every Sunday afternoon.
Put it in your digital calendar or a to-do list app once and set it to repeat. Then you can trust the system and clear your mind.
6. Build a Solid Morning Routine
How you start your day often determines how you live your day. A solid morning routine automates your first hour so you begin with purpose instead of chaos. My routine is non-negotiable. It’s how I ground myself before the world starts making demands. It includes a quiet moment of prayer and reading a passage from the Bible. This centers my spirit and sets my priorities straight far better than scrolling through emails or news ever could. Find what works for you and stick to it.
7. And a Winding-Down Evening Routine
Just as important as a morning routine is an evening one. This signals to your body and mind that it's time to shut down. This could be as simple as laying out your clothes for the next day tidying the kitchen for 10 minutes and reading a book before bed. It prevents that late-night scrambling and helps you get better rest. A good today is built on the rest you got last night.
8. Tame Your Email Inbox
If your job involves email you can lose hours to your inbox. Set up filters to automatically sort incoming mail. For example create a filter that sends any newsletter to a "To Read" folder. You can check it once a day instead of being interrupted every time one arrives. Also create a few template responses for questions you get all the time. This turns a five-minute reply into a 10-second one.
9. Batch Your Chores and Errands
Instead of doing a little bit of cleaning every day or running one errand here and there batch them together. Designate Saturday morning as "chore time" and do all the week's cleaning then. Plan an "errand block" one afternoon and hit the post office bank and pharmacy all in one trip. This automates the decision of when to do these tasks and is much more efficient than spreading them out.
10. Automate Your Savings
Pay yourself first automatically. Set up an automatic transfer from your checking account to your savings account the day you get paid. It doesn't have to be a huge amount. Even a small transfer adds up over time. When the money is moved before you even see it you learn to live without it. This is the simplest way to build an emergency fund or save for a future goal without relying on leftover money that rarely exists.
Automating these small parts of my life didn’t happen overnight. It was a slow process of building one system at a time. But each small thing I automated gave me back a little bit of peace and a little bit of time. That time and peace are what allowed me to focus on my health my faith and the person I wanted to become.
So let me ask you what is one small task you can put on autopilot this week? Just one. Start there and see how it feels to have a little more breathing room.
