Rebalancing the Mental Load: How Fair Play Inspires Simyli’s Mission to Reshape Household Dynamics

“The art of rebalancing domestic work is not about doing more, it’s about doing it differently.” — Eve Rodsky

In her book Fair Play, author and activist Eve Rodsky puts words to a frustration many families feel but struggle to articulate: the invisible burden of managing a home and family. Rodsky calls it what it is—mental load—and lays out a thoughtful, structured system to rebalance domestic responsibilities.

At its heart, Fair Play isn’t just about who does the dishes. It’s about reclaiming time, restoring equity, and redefining what it means to be a partner, parent, or caregiver in the modern age.

Simyli embraces these fundamental principles as part of its origin story. We endeavored to build a smart assistant for families who are ready to stop surviving and start thriving—together.

📖 What Fair Play Teaches Us

Rodsky’s system breaks down the domestic burden into three key phases:

• Conception: Thinking of what needs to be done

• Planning: Deciding when and how to do it

• Execution: Actually doing the task

Most mental load happens in the first two stages—and Fair Play reveals how often these fall disproportionately on one partner, even in households that consider themselves egalitarian. And that is where burnout starts...

💡 Enter Simyli: Your Household Operating System

At Simyli, we’ve built a mobile application designed to bring Fair Play principles to life—with the help of intelligent workflows, shared task management, and a digital assistant that anticipates your family’s needs.

Here’s how Simyli supports a more balanced home life:

✅ Shared Ownership

Simyli doesn’t just create to-do lists. It clarifies who owns the task from start to finish, using structured assignments, reminders, and progress updates—much like Rodsky’s cards, but dynamic and digital.

🧠 Mental Load Offloading

By capturing routine patterns, Simyli learns what needs to happen next—doctor visits, school forms, meal prep—and helps delegate and automate where possible. That means less remembering, nagging, and re-communicating.

👥 Transparent Communication

With Simyli’s shared calendar, event threads, and care workflows, every family member sees the full context of what’s going on. No more “I didn’t know that was happening.”

🩺 Built for Caregiving, Too

Unlike typical productivity tools, Simyli integrates healthcare and caregiving into daily life—perfect for the sandwich generation juggling kids and aging parents.

🔄 From Theory to Daily Life

Simyli doesn’t just assign tasks. It builds habits, creates visibility, and turns invisible labor into shared accountability. Just like Fair Play revolutionized how we talk about fairness at home, our goal at Simyli is to revolutionize how we act on it.