Have you ever thought about all the decisions you make every day? Whether it’s when to get out of bed, if you’ll brush your teeth or not, what to wear, if you’ll work out now or later, what to eat for every meal, when to go to bed, what to watch, what projects you’ll work on, and on and on. And on. We’re basically making decisions every minute of every day (if not more often) about what we’ll do throughout the day. It’s exhausting to think about all those decisions!
There’s actually a term for this thing we do all day every day: Decision Fatigue. Researchers found that we make around 35,000 decisions every day. That’s crazy, right?! And that same research also found that the more decisions we make every day, the worse those decisions become. They also discovered that when we’re in the depths of decision fatigue, we’re less likely to make beneficial trade-offs (I should do this instead of doing this), we might take a backseat role in making decisions, and we might even make irrational or impulsive decisions, all of which are no bueno since the decisions we make can impact our lives in powerful ways.
Decision fatigue isn’t a new thing either. Way back in 1890, William James, a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University said this:
“…we must make automatic and habitual, as early as possible, as many useful actions as we can… The more details of our life we can hand over to the effortless custody of automation, the higher mental power of mind will be set free for their own proper work.”
Think how much life has changed since 1890! It’s more crucial than ever that we make the most of every decision in our constantly moving 24/7/365 world. When it comes right down to it, we are the decisions we make. Which means that we have control over those decisions.
5 Tips for Combating Decision-Fatigue
So how can we make sure we’re making the best decisions possible about the most important things in our lives? Here are some things to try:
TIp #1. Minimize the number of decisions you need to make. This one is a biggie, and that’s why it’s #1 on my list. What does this look like?
- Steve Jobs wore the same thing to work every day: Basic pair of Levi’s, black turtleneck, New Balance shoes. He didn’t have to decide what to wear every day!
- The top all-time free thrower in both the NBA and WNBA isn’t Michael Jordan or Steph Curry. It’s Elena Delle Donne, and she has a 93.4% season success rate and a 96.4% post-season success rate. How did she get to this level of success? She does the exact same thing every time she goes to make a free throw. Every time. And since she doesn’t have to make the decisions every time about what to do to get that free throw, it’s become routine. Automatic.
- Repeat meals, and better yet, make a meal plan once a week. One of the worst decisions we make every day is what to have for dinner, right? At least that’s the way it is around here. So, if you’ve already planned at least your dinners for the week, you’ve relieved that decision fatigue. And you’re probably eating healthier and more cost effectively too.
- Keep a grocery list. This is important for so many reasons, but especially when it comes to making decisions at the grocery store.
- Love your calendar. I could do a whole blog post on this one. My calendar (I use ical) saves me time and time again. Here are some ideas: Add monthly or yearly repeat reminders for important things (I just added repeat reminders for when I need to order/send gifts and cards so they’ll get to the receiver in time), , schedule workouts, and so on. If I think of anything I need to do, I put it in my calendar right then. My calendar is seriously a life-saver!
- Keep a gifts list throughout the year. When birthdays or Christmas get close, you won’t have to start from scratch when deciding what to get since you’ve been capturing ideas for months.
- Create a master packing list and tweak it for each trip. This has saved me over and over again. I don’t have to make decisions about everything I need to take AND I don’t forget things I’ll need.
Here’s one more: One of the things I do every morning is my Wordle game for the day. I know this small thing is helping to keep my brain strong, so it’s important to me. I always use the same first word. Always. That alleviates some decision-making right there!
Tip #2. Create new habits. When you’ve got some solid habits that almost seem to happen automatically time after time, you don’t have to decide to do those things anymore. And if you can stack your habits (group similar habits together so that one leads into another automatically), you’re decreasing the number of decisions you’ll need to make even more. This has worked amazingly well for me, so I’m all about creating new habit stacks so I don’t have to make extra decisions and so I can create those habits that will serve me well.
Curious about habits? Go here.
Tip #3. Know your zones. What does this mean? We all have times during the day when we’re more alert and when we’re not, so save the alert times for the biggest decisions and most important tasks, leaving the less alert times for less important decisions and tasks. For me, this looks like working on client projects and doing my own writing during my alert times and doing other, less brain-taxing tasks for those times of the day when I’m less alert, tired, or both. If you’re not sure what this looks like for you, pay attention during the day to see when you’re at your best and when you’re not quite killing it. Then don’t fight against what you discover. I’ve tried to do that, and the quality of my work goes down as well as the quality of my decisions.
Tip #4. Get some rest. When we’re tired, we just don’t think as clearly, which means we also won’t make the best decisions. Whether this means getting more sleep at night (experts recommend 7-9 hours/night), taking a power nap during the day, or even taking a break from what you’re doing for a few minutes, any type of rest you can give your brain can help decrease your decision fatigue.
Need help getting more sleep? Get some tips here.
Tip #5. Simplify. From your wardrobe, to your meal options, to any clutter around you, the less “stuff” you have to deal with and manage, the fewer decisions you’ll need to make. Have you ever heard of the 80/20 rule? Simply put, it states that we get 80% of our results from 20% of what we do. If you apply that to your closet, you wear 20% of your clothes 80% of the time. If you apply that to your stuff, you use 20% of your stuff 80% of the time. That leaves a lot of room to declutter, right? We recently did some decluttering, and it felt ah-mazing. And we haven’t missed anything that we got rid of.
Are you feeling fatigued from all the decisions you need to make day in and day out? Give one of these tips a try and see if you can alleviate some of your decision fatigue. I’ve been working on doing this as much as possible, and it’s been a game-changer for me!
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