Decision fatigue is a psychological phenomenon surrounding a person’s ability or capacity to make decisions. Simply put, it is the deterioration of our ability to make good decisions after a long period of decision making, which can also be called ego depletion.
The theory of decision fatigue is that a human’s ability to make decisions can get worse throughout the day, as people tend to make hundreds of tiny decisions without even noticing, making it hard to make more decisions, as their brain will be more fatigued. This fatigue applies to all decisions, not simply the large or more difficult ones.
It can help some people to think of the decision-making ability as a finite source, such as a battery. Each decision reduces the charge of the battery, and the person has less energy available to make other decisions later on.
The underlying cause of decision fatigue may have to do with a person’s stress levels and the number of decisions they have to make each day. The weight of these decisions also matters.
Most people have to make a large number of decisions each day. From the moment we wake up, we start making them. How many times a day, for example, do you open a new browser tab just to Google something quickly. Or mindlessly check your email or LinkedIn? What about hopping on Facebook or Insta just for a minute? 10 times? 20? 100?
After analyzing over 225 million hours of working time, in 2017, it was found that the average user switches between tasks more than 300 times per day (and this was only during working hours!)
Not only does this level of context switching pick apart our focus, but each of those decisions to switch tasks eats into our willpower a little bit. Eventually, we hit what’s called decision fatigue: when our lack of energy and focus leads to making poor decisions, and this is a problem.
More and more our careers depend on making good choices. And by understanding decision fatigue and how we can avoid it, we can make sure we’re operating at 100% for a longer period of time.
Risk factors By the standard view of decision fatigue, a person is more at risk of experiencing it if they:
· make many decisions throughout the day
· feel greatly affected by the decisions they make
· make very stressful decisions
· make very complex decisions
· make decisions affecting other people in a significant way
No matter how rational or sensible you are, you simply can’t make decision after decision without paying a mental price. And unlike physical fatigue—which we are consciously aware of—decision fatigue often happens without us knowing.
When someone is hit by ego depletion, it’s not only decision-making that is affected, but also:
1. You have limited willpower, so when you use it up, you’ll make poor choices
2. Working for an extended period of time or being forced to make multiple complex decisions uses up your stores even faster
I’m sure you’ve felt those moments when your energy levels are low and it’s nearly impossible to make smart choices. At that point, it seems obvious to think that we’ve run out of some limited cognitive resource. However, it’s not that simple.
So, how can we avoid getting to this point and make better choices?
It’s not enough to just say “stop believing that you’re tired” and that will make it all better.
Instead, we need to look at ways to counteract the factors that go into decision fatigue - from protecting our focus and willpower, to making sure our energy levels are high throughout the day.
1. Simplify the choices you need to make throughout the day
Former president Obama wore only blue or gray suits for his entire 8-year period as president. Steve Jobs was famous for his turtleneck and blue jeans uniform, and Nas Daily uses a black t-shirt with his age as a battery charge.
The idea behind their limited wardrobe is simple: With so many important decisions throughout the day, why start with deciding what to wear? Or why not have a meal plan for the whole week, so you don’t waste time of your life doing it every day?
Like a soldier, what these men have in common is they decided to simplify some of their most basic decisions on a daily basis. By reducing the amount of decisions you make every day, you free up space for the ones that matter.
2. Set honest priorities for earlier in the day
Schedule your most important things for first in the day—whether that’s working on a personal project, getting a hard work task done, or dealing with something you’ve been putting off.
One technique I’ve found especially helpful is to limit my daily to-do list to only 5 items and writing the list the night before.
3. Focus on momentum, not willpower
Decision fatigue makes us feel out of control. And building momentum around tasks is one of the fastest ways to get that feeling of control back. If you can chain similar tasks together, there’s less chance you’ll be faced with having to “make the decision to get started.” Once we start a task, our brain becomes obsessed with finishing it.
4. Lock in big decisions when your motivation and willpower are high
Rather than being susceptible to your changing energy levels or even mood, lock in key decisions when your energy is highest. For example, you could do meal prep on Sundays to ensure you’re not making poor food decisions throughout the week.
One thing I’ve found particularly impactful is setting a daily FocusTime session for first thing in the morning. This way, I get at least 1.5 hours of work done without being distracted by social media or bouncing all over sites and apps getting my morning news fix.
5. Use the power of the afternoon nap
Research has found that naps are like a fix for our brain—clearing away the gunk that builds up.
When we sleep, our brain prunes away some of the connections between neurons, making room for whatever new information we’ll come across when we wake up.
If you’re feeling the effects of decision fatigue, a quick nap can help reset your mental space. You won’t be back at full capacity. But you’ll be more likely to make better decisions, at least for a little while longer.
That busyness has a price. The more choices we’re faced with, the more likely we are to fall victim to decision fatigue. To make good choices we need to listen to our thoughts, recognize when our energy has dropped, and react accordingly.
A little understanding of how willpower affects our ability to make choices can go a long way in making sure we’re doing the right work, not just whatever is easiest at that time.
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