Throughout the day, you make over 30,000 decisions. As the day goes by, your ability to make these decisions easily and with logically diminish. There are reasons why billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs would wear the same outfit every day. They needed to save their brain power for more important decisions- they learned how to eliminate decision fatigue and you will too.
Every minute of every day that needs to be planned, that’s yours- that’s your responsibility.
It’s your job to figure out what the kids should be eating for breakfast…also what you should be eating for breakfast.
Are the kids dressed weather appropriate?
Should I exercise today- if so, what do I do and when do I do it?
Buying gifts, grocery shopping… any shopping purchase.
Not to mention endless work decisions.
By the end of the day, you just can’t do it anymore. This is why it’s so hard to pick something to watch on Netflix after a long day!
You only have the brain power to make limited good decisions in a day.
What is decision fatigue or choice fatigue?
Decision fatigue or “choice fatigue” defined is: difficulty in making a good decision experienced as a result of the number of decisions one needs to take.
What does decision fatigue feel like?
After your brain power has been used up by more substantial issues, minor questions or choices become difficult or near impossible to make. This is very common for doctors, teachers, business owners as well as those with ADHD, or anxiety or depression because of it’s effect on executive functioning.
Related: Supporting anxiety and depression with nutrition: step by step
Quick story about decision fatigue
My middle child recently developed this habit where one of her points of engagement to me was asking me questions like,
- “Which color should I use next?”
- “What bite should I eat first?”
- “Which bracelet should I wear?”
I realized, these teeny tiny questions were using up my brain power and sadly I found them quite exhausting to answer. However, it made me realize: at some point in the past I had figured out how to eliminate decision fatigue without being intentional about it.
I am a business owner. I work alone, at a computer- just me and the spiders in the basement. I make all of the decisions.
- How to operate
- What to invest in
- What to post
- When to work
- How long to work
That’s not to mention the most important decisions of my 1 on 1 client care:
- What is their biggest priority?
- Which Omega 3 supplement should they be on?
- Is this a safe recommendation with their current medication? etc.
If you happen to own your own business, I know you’re right there with me.
I also spent years of my life battling severe depression. Within this period, decision making felt near impossible. The physical energy involved as something that used to be very effortless to me was astounding. I couldn’t even make a grocery list. I’ve worked hard repairing my mental health, and I’ve learned valuable lessons along the way. Here’s what I’ve figured out.
How to eliminate decision fatigue: Make your decisions automatic
Let me explain. James Clear in his book Atomic Habits, talks about habit building. One of his major suggestions is to make your habits as automatic as possible- as in remove the barriers you know will interrupt you. For example:
- Lay your exercise clothes out the night before
- Stock your pantry with easy simple prepared proteins
- Leave your supplements out in the open as visual reminders. Maybe even get one of those old lady dispensers so you don’t have to count every time.
- Leave your yoga mat out on the floor to stretch before bed
There is a saying in yoga, that the hardest part is- getting out the mat. This by no means is saying that yoga does not require stamina. This only represents that the most difficult part is making the decision to do so and taking the first step.
On this page I have listed many of my favorite books and resources for you.
How can I make daily decisions more automatic?
1. Schedule your workouts once, and then never again.
This aspect I have adopted to many areas of life and it probably encompasses all of them. One time I asked a friend as a full-time working mother how she kept her consistency working out.
Her response, “I don’t let it be a question.“
She already knows, she is going to work out- it’s always going to happen. Make the decisions once, then never again.
I am going to work out. I am going to work out 5x a week and 9am.. On Mondays, I do legs. On Tuesdays I do yoga…
It becomes a schedule you follow, not a series of questions you have to ask yourself every day.
Beyond exercise- this can stem into other areas as well.
2. Simplify your meal plans
Recently I realized I was plain sick and tired of figuring you a Sunday lunch that was ready for us when we walked in the door after church.
I don’t really like crockpot meals, they make everything soggy and wet and I never would think ahead enough to have them ready anyways.
One day we came home and we just made sandwiches and I realized, why don’t we do this more often? It was so much more simple for me and my brain to know that we were just going to stick with a simple Sunday lunch.
So I made 1 decision and declared it “Sandwich Sunday”. I can make Sandwich Sunday be an interesting or as easy as I need it to be, with the flexibility that it could also be soup or salad Sunday because I definitely prefer variety. This brought a huge pressure release.
If you apply this thought to other areas of your meal planning, you may feel that same relief. Make the decision once of what you are going to eat on Mondays. Will it be a chicken day? Will you have taco Tuesday and pasta Wednesday etc.
Choose 20 winning meals, and stick to those. You don’t need a new experiment every week. Stick to the basics, with enough variety to keep your nutrition in check, and don’t over complicate it. If my husband is reading this part, he’ll know he says this to me all the time and I don’t listen to this part. It’s a good idea, I just don’t always want to do it. I’ve got major recipe FOMO.
3. Coordinate your leisure time
Remember back in the day and you had that 1 special show, and it was on Thursday nights at 8pm no questions asked. If you missed it, you missed it- you know, the good ol days?
You can schedule in your TV nights just like this.
For us, we chose to choose more light items like The Amazing Race for early in the week on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Currently we have “Free play” Wednesday and joke non stop about the how wild it is to have the responsibly to choose what we want to watch.
Thursdays and Fridays belong currently to Breaking Bad, after just finishing the Ozark series earlier this month.
Weekends we use for watching older classic films like, Titanic or Shutter Island. With football season starting I can sense a shift and we are doing to have to recalibrate our big TV decisions.
This has turned in to this date that we look forward to at the end of each day because the plan has already been made. I keep a running list on my phone of shows or movies and when needed we can just grab something off that list. Next up, The Quiet Place: Day One. Seen it? Comment and let me know what you thought! (I’ve since seen this…. and absolute do not recommend)
I also made a decision to read before bed every night. I may only make it through a couple pages, but I know I am going to read.
4. Embrace minimalism
I appreciate minimalism. I have loved the concept from when I first learned about it. I love reading books and blogs and movies about minimalism. It is fascinating content and instead of just chasing this normal mentality of more and more and more- they’re content with what they have.
Related: How to find rest in the chaos
In an effort to keep this short, Consider your wardrobe. I go through my closet pretty often. I do the trick where you turn all of your hangars backwards and only flip them back to normal after wearing an item. After 6 months, if you still haven’t worn an item, you get rid of it.
Every time I do any kind of closet clean out, I’m always fascinated by how much easier it is to get dressed. As you’ve gotten rid of so many things, you choose things to keep that you really love (maybe a few oddballs you keep just because you don’t have anything else like it). When your closet is full of your favorite things it is so much easier get dressed- leaving your brain ready for other decisions that may come your way.
If you’re wanting to get out of the fight or flight mode– always chasing after more and more, you’ll want to spend more time learning about minimalism. The more time and energy you can free up in your brain space this creates the ability to make big decisions, but about the things really matter.
Related: Is adrenal fatigue real? The underworld of the wired and tired
Do you have any awesome hacks to eliminate decision fatigue? Let us know in the comments.
I’m terribly passionate about seeing women recover from anxiety + depression. That’s why I turned it into my life mission, and I can’t wait for you to see recovery.
I created a free course with my signature 5 step program to get you can-
- Fall asleep easier and sleep all night long
- Stop having a $1 reaction to a 50 cent problem
- Quiet your mind and feel balanced and at peace again
You can download this free course right here and learn the steps I walk through my every own clients with.
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