HOW TO PREVENT DECISION FATIGUE

HOW TO PREVENT DECISION FATIGUE

Have you ever gotten to the end of a busy and hectic day and felt like your brain was too exhausted to even decide what to eat? This decision fatigue can really be tough. You feel so overwhelmed by the situation that it's hard to prioritize anything; making a healthy meal just seems impossible. If something similar has happened to you, it may be due to decision fatigue — the diminishing capacity to make decisions as the day goes on.

What is Decision Fatigue?

Social psychologist and author of willpower, F. Baumeister, coined the term decision fatigue — also known as ego depletion. Decision fatigue is a cognitive phenomenon that occurs when decisions fatigue the brain. Decision fatigue can be experienced as decreased ability to think, retain and analyze information given a large number of choices, or after making a large number of decisions. Decision-making fatigue, otherwise known as decision fatigue, is the idea that your ability to make decisions diminishes with each decision you make. A surprising number of people experience this malady at work and in their personal lives; it’s a different type of brain drain that can place a damper on your productivity and even affect your judgment when choosing what to do next.

What are the signs of decision fatigue?

Many people get frustrated when they spend too much time making decisions. This can be a problem when you want to make high-quality, correct decisions. Some common signs of decision fatigue include:

• Mental fatigue

• Brain fog

• General tiredness and weakness

Mental fatigue and brain fog are the feelings of being unable to concentrate on the task at hand. Brain fog especially can feel like even the simplest of tasks is complex, and you feel like you are walking through a “fog.”

Besides affecting how you feel, choice fatigue can lead to worse decision-making.

• Decision overload can lead to:

• Impulsivity, especially impulsive buying

• Procrastination and other avoidance behaviors

How to prevent Decision Fatigue

Luckily, there are plenty of ways you can combat decision fatigue. With some routine and healthy breaks, you’ll know how to replenish your willpower and boost your productivity during a decision-heavy day.

(1) Establish Daily Routines that minimize decision making

From the moment you wake up until you drift off to dreamland, all of the decisions you make impact your willpower. The more decisions you make, the more mental exhaustion you will feel, so the more decisions you automate, the more energy you can save for the important stuff. Establishing both morning and evening routines will set you up for success by automating some of your processes. For example, if you always start your morning with a meditation and short exercise followed by eggs for breakfast, your mind doesn’t have to decide to do that when you wake up each morning, it will just do the routine on autopilot. Following a strict daily schedule will help you maximize both work and leisure time. Set a start and end time for tasks and split up your day into time block categories for work, exercise, family time, and bed-time.

(2) Tackle Big Decisions Early in the Day

After you’ve completed your morning routine, it’s time to start being productive. Make your biggest decisions early in the day so you can utilize your strong willpower before it starts to deplete. Go through your to-do list focusing on the most important tasks first to increase rational decision-making and productivity. Even if you think you make your best decisions later in the day, you are probably wrong. A study revealed that even people who consider themselves night owls make their best decisions in the morning and their worst ones late at night. Saturday mornings are a great time to make purchases. That way, your financial decisions are not interfering with your professional decisions and you can focus all of your energy on finding the best deal. Do your research before you head to the store so you already know which item and brand you intend to purchase. This will keep you from getting overwhelmed and avoiding the decision altogether, and it will also keep you away from budget killer impulse buys.

(3) Make Fewer Decisions

Most people don’t realize just how many decisions they are making, and how all of these choices are impacting their energy and mood. The average person makes 36,000 choices a day, it’s no wonder some of us are mentally drained before lunchtime. Automating repeating tasks is a great way to limit decisions. Set up autopay for recurring bills to remove bill paying decisions from your routine. Delegate unimportant decisions at work to maximize your time at the office. The more decisions you can automate, the more willpower you can save. For this reason high achievers such as Steve Jobs, Former U.S. President Barack Obama, and Mark Zuckerberg actively limit the amount of decisions they make. Steve Jobs, who wore his trademark blue jeans with a black turtleneck and white sneakers every day, said that, “Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.” Both Zuckerberg and Obama have also adopted this wardrobe tactic: for Zuckerberg, it’s gray tees, for Obama, it’s gray and blue suits. Obama also eats the same thing for breakfast every morning, eliminating yet another decision from his day.

(4) Eat Right, Eat Often

Most high-achievers make healthy eating habits a priority. This energy is what gives our brain fuel - in fact, a new study linked low glucose levels with worse decision making. Sugar can help increase glucose levels and fuel short bursts of energy, but we get more long-term energy from healthier foods such as most vegetables, raw fruits, cheese, meat, fish, and good fats. Meal-prepping is a great way to keep your mind healthy and free from decision fatigue. It’s also a great way to make budget decisions around eating. Decide how much you are willing to spend on meals each week, and then work a grocery store visit into your Sunday routine. When you get home, prepare your lunch and dinner for the week so you never have to decide where your next meal is coming from. Resistance also takes a toll on our mental state. Baumeister, in his ego depletion study, found that participants who had recently resisted freshly baked cookies were less able to persevere through the puzzle than their peers.

(5) Set deadlines for decisions

If you have to book a flight for your next business trip or inform your boss of which web designer you would like to hire, set a personal deadline for yourself to make the decision. By setting a deadline, you are telling your brain when it needs to come back to the thought and make the decision. This will help free your brain space and energy to focus on other tasks that need your immediate attention.

Going forward

Whenever you feel that you might be experiencing decision fatigue, remind yourself-- It's not something negative or failing on your part. It's a natural psychological phenomenon that even the most successful people in the world take seriously and you should too. Taking preventive measures to avoid decision fatigue can improve your professional performance and personal well-being

The Fab Chieftess believes that you can have it all without sacrificing the other areas in life. By developing a strategy, accountability, and mindset work you can discover a better way to enrich and live the life you want to lead. Book a consultation today!