Decision Fatigue: How to Cope and Overcome It
Does it seem harder than ever to make decisions? Not just the complicated stuff. Easy stuff, too. What to cook for dinner. What to do first in the morning. Whether or not to go to the gym. There’s a reason for this. It’s called decision fatigue.
What Is Decision Fatigue?
As the name implies, decision fatigue is the result of having to make too many decisions on an ongoing basis. Especially having to make decisions without the benefit of strong guidance or reliable information. We face them every day. Dozens of decisions, fraught with complexity and insecurity, and many with potentially high stakes, too.
How To Avoid Decision Fatigue
There are practical steps we can take to help optimize the process we use to make big decisions. These include the following:
- Identify key decisions we need to make, and prioritize them during optimal decision making windows. For example, we can schedule time for critical thinking early in the morning, before we get burned out making 100 insignificant decisions over the course of the day.
- Limit the major decisions we will consider during times when other things eat away at our decision making ability. For example, during the holiday season, we have to make dozens of “extra” decisions. Whether to travel or invite others to join us for special days. Who to purchase gifts for, and what to buy. Whether to attend special events, etc. It doesn’t make sense to pile “optional” decisions onto our plates at these times, or other times when we are especially stressed and busy. It makes sense to postpone elective decisions until a more relaxed time of year, when we can tackle them with fresh energy.
- Reduce the options to consider for every decision we make. One simple example? Eat the same thing for breakfast every day. Sounds monotonous, but eliminating the need to make a choice, any choice, helps us preserve decision making energy for the important stuff.
- Remember that there’s not always one best answer. Invest less energy in choosing the best option from an objective perspective, and more energy into exploring your feelings around each option. Most times, the option that feels right vs. the one that scores highest on a pro/con analysis, is the right one for you.
Making Good Decisions about Making Decisions
Yes, you read that right. We should prioritize making decisions about the decisions we will even entertain. Because now more than ever, we owe it to ourselves to do all we can to maintain our energy stores and reduce stress. We must also remind ourselves that there are very few practical decisions that can’t ultimately be “undone”.
The risk of choosing one option over another is often not as great as we think it is. To help maximize our own well-being and happiness, we must make a conscious decision to stress less over the relatively minor choices we make and take an approach that increases the odds of choosing wisely when it really counts.
Make a great decision today — or choose not to — and tell us all about it! For more great advice on decision making, check out this post: How To Make Great Decisions.
Thank you as always for reading.
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Joan Senio is the founder of Kindness-Compassion-and-Coaching.com. Joan’s career includes clinical healthcare plus 20+ years as an executive in a nationwide health care system and 15 years as a consultant. The common threads throughout Joan’s personal and professional life are a commitment to non-profit organizations, mental health, compassionate coaching, professional development and servant leadership. She is a certified Neuroscience Coach, member of the International Organization of Life Coaches, serves as a thought-leader for KuelLife.com and is also a regular contributor to PsychReg and Sixty and Me. You can read more about Joan here: Joan Senio.
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