We all make small, seemingly trivial decisions daily:
What do I wear to work?
What should I eat for dinner?
On their own, none of these decisions are huge or worth fretting over. However, when we total them up — over the course of the day, week, or month — we may not be aware but lots of valuable mental energy is used. Decision making can wear you down.
The formal definition of decision fatigue as an “impaired ability to make decisions and control our behaviour due to repeated decision-making.”
Psychologists estimate that the average adult makes 35,000 decisions each day. This number is made up of every notification you decide to ignore, every bakery item you choose to avoid, and each invitation to happy hour you accept or decline — those are decisions, and they add up!
Why can decision fatigue be unhealthy?
Mental overload when compounded can lead to stress, irritability, the inability to make decisions, and impulsive or irrational decisions that we later regret.
When we first wake up, we are at our optimal decision-making capability. As the day passes, and decisions begin to pile on — at school, work, and in our personal lives — our capacity for decision-making decreases.
Two tactics can help:
Sustain the mental energy you wake up with:
Prioritise sleep. Most adults need 7-9 hours. Aim to go to bed and wake up at the same time each day… One less decision at either end of your day! |
Meditate. Adding a few minutes of peace and stillness to your day can help regulate your emotions and improve your attention span. When your mind is clear, you will have more mental space and energy to think and make decisions. |
Spend time in the sun. Exposure to daylight helps regulate our circadian rhythms by setting the clock in our brain that helps us sleep at night. This allows us to stick to our bedtime routine and actually fall asleep when we intend to instead of being wound up and awake all night. |
Eat healthily. A balanced diet with lean protein, healthy fats, and plenty of produce helps keep our brains functioning at their best. Swapping out processed and sugary foods for more nutritious options can maintain stable blood sugar levels, which increases our capacity for self-control. |
Move your body. Getting regular exercise can reduce your stress and improve your sleep. Do what works for you. |
Think marathon. Not sprint! |
Eliminate decisions:
Simplify. Use a list at the supermarket or order online to avoid being overwhelmed instore. Set up bills for autopay. Wear variations of the same outfit daily, or choose ahead. Steve Jobs wore a black T-Shirt or turtle neck every day for this reason. |
Avoid second guessing decisions. Once you’ve made a decision, stick to it. Let go of the need for perfection. Trust yourself! |
Prioritise. Consider your top-priority decisions for the day + tackle those first. |
Postpone. Push big decisions for the morning when we have the most mental energy. |
Delegate. If someone else can make a decision, pass the responsibility on to them. Delegate to your future self by adding weighty decisions to your calendar and not thinking about them until the appointed time (excellent strategy for people prone to over thinking.) |
Cultivate routines. Creating + sticking to daily routines pre makes many decisions. When some tasks are on auto-pilot, we don’t need to think about them, conserving mental energy. Eat the same breakfast, do the same chores each day. Decide where you’ll store car keys, and keep them there. |
Focus your mental energy where it belongs: on the big, important decisions and the micro-decisions that will enable us to fulfill our goals.
Avoiding decision fatigue is a tool for your tool belt for tackling life. We hope this helps you!
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