Do you feel overwhelmed or exhausted by all the small decisions you have to make each day?
If so, you may be suffering from decision fatigue, a psychological phenomenon where your productivity becomes compromised and your brain feels drained from the endless decision making that comes with modern life.
This is even more relevant as we head towards Christmas, choosing gifts, organising lunches, completing work projects and planning for the holiday season.
Dr Sheena Iyengar estimates that some people make a whopping 35,000 small decisions every day and this way of functioning cannot be sustained.
In her book The Art of Choosing she states:
“Humans have limited energy and capacity to process all the options we come into contact with on a daily basis so when those options balloon past a certain threshold, our minds short-circuit and we either make poor decisions or sometimes feel too overwhelmed to even make a choice at all.”
It’s the reason we only ever saw Steve Jobs in black turtlenecks – he didn’t want to have to think about what to wear each day.
Scientific studies show that the first two hours after we wake up in the morning are our most productive (and that 3pm slump where your brain checks out, is a real thing!)
So, how do we overcome decision fatigue?
Make a quick choice and stick with it – don’t keep changing your mind
Categorise your decisions into who, what, where, why, when
Delegate some decision making to others at home or work involved in the same projects
Organise the night before: lay out your clothes, write a to do list, timetable those tasks
Plan for the week ahead : meals, cleaning, fun
Give yourself permission to switch off
If decision making is something you struggle with and would like help click here to book in a call with me.
