When I first moved to Poland in 2018, I didn’t plan to stop buying new clothes.
It just… happened.
The thrift stores were everywhere and I could get unique vintage pieces that lasted longer than new clothes without selling my organs…
So, I bought second-hand.
But then, we moved countries—again. And again.
And every time, I found myself sitting in front of my suitcase, stuck in the same hellish situation: too many clothes, too many decisions and too much wasted time on a problem that shouldn’t have existed in the first place.
So, I cut back.
First, the items I never wore. Then, the ones I thought I’d wear but never did. Then, I started asking myself: “If I lost this in a move, would I even care?”
The answer, most of the time? No.
So with every move, my wardrobe shrank.
But meanwhile, something else was happening… I was learning the bad and the ugly about the fashion industry—the landfills in Ghana, Chile, and Kenya, the unethical labour hidden behind glossy ads, the microplastics bleeding into the ocean with every wash, turning the water into a slow-drip poison.
All of this made me question why I even felt the need to shop.
So, I purged my wardrobe even more.
Then, I stopped thrifting.
Then, one day, I opened my wardrobe and realised I hadn’t bought a single piece of clothing—not even second-hand—in over a year.
And now Jakub has more clothes than me.
Which is wild, because when we first got married, I had at least 3 times his wardrobe.
But let me get to the point of this email:
The paradox of choice.
Every time you make a choice—whether it’s deciding what to wear or choosing what to work on—your anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) lights up.
Your ACC is the part of your brain that spots conflicts, weighs your options, and helps you make the right decision.
But the more options you have, the harder it works.
And the harder it works, the more your brain just… STALLS.
What I realised about my wardrobe is that the fewer clothing options I had, the easier my life became.
(Which makes sense now we both know how the ACC works.)
I stopped wasting time standing in front of my wardrobe, and making my ACC regret the day it was born.
And it’s such a FREEING feeling, I’m thinking about getting rid of a few more things.
That’s the real secret to getting unstuck.
Instead of cycling through options in your head like a broken record:
“Should I work on that email sequence? Or finish that sales page? Or maybe start that client project first? Actually… maybe I should fix my website first?”
You could kill your choices so you have less to think about…like I’ve done with my wardrobe over the last 7 years.
But sometimes, you don’t have 7 years.
Sometimes, you don’t even have 7 days.
Sometimes, you need someone who understands how your brain actually works to step in and help you slash through the noise NOWER.
That’s exactly what the Productivity Hotline is for.
With just one email, I help you cut down the endless “should I or shouldn’t I?” loops that are driving your ACC crazy so you can end the stuckness cycle and start moving forward.
For more info: https://yosianderson.com/
Tp. Tp.
There’s more where that came from!
See, I’ve been writing daily productivity emails for online business owners since November 2024.
And what you just read is barely a scratch on the surface.
The real gems… The fun, insightful, and occasionally absurd behind-the-scenes stories… My best offers… The kind of stuff that makes you go:
“Wait… did that REALLY happen?”
I don’t blast those out to the whole internet.
(Some things… should be kept private.)
But if you want to snoop around… if you want to see what really happens in AYAPYLand…
There’s a door.
And it’s open.
For now.