Do you have decision fatigue?
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Do you have decision fatigue?
Raise your consciousness to avoid making poor choices
How many of us can identify with the following scenario?
It’s 5:35pm on a Wednesday. You’ve just arrived home.
Your partner says, “I don’t feel like cooking tonight. What should we order for dinner?” You respond, “I don’t know, just pick something.”
You then debate for 10 minutes about what food to order because neither can make the decision. Your patience drained, you finally say, “Let’s just get McDonalds!”
You know McDonalds isn’t the healthiest choice, but you just don’t have the energy to make a better dinner decision.
There is a scientific reason for this phenomenon. It’s called decision fatigue. A term popularized by social psychologist John Tierney, decision fatigue “refers to the deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual after a long session of decision making. It is now understood as one of the causes of irrational trade-offs in decision making. Decision fatigue may also lead to consumers making poor choices with their purchases.”
In the scenario above, you and your partner had both exhausted your decision-making energy for the day. Think about it: you start the day deciding what to wear, what to eat for breakfast, which route to take to work, which restaurant to select for your date night on Friday, and when to schedule your doctor appointment. That’s all before you get to work, where you’re faced with many more decisions to make.
It's estimated that we make 35,000 decisions every day. Cornell University found that we make 226.7 decisions about food alone every day. So it’s no wonder we feel tired and start making poorer decisions as the day wears on.
Decision fatigue can manifest in a variety of ways: reduced ability to make trade-offs, decision avoidance, impulse purchasing, impaired self-regulation, susceptibility to decision making biases, and decisional conflict and regret.
Unfortunately, some businesses capitalize on decision fatigue. For example, if you shop at any major grocery store, they have dozens of types of bread, milk, etc. By the time you reach the checkout, you’ve analyzed and made dozens if not hundreds of decisions. So the store puts impulse products at the checkout. In your fatigued state, you buy that extra-large Snickers bar even though you know it’s not good for you.
It's obvious that decision fatigue can prevent us from making the best choices for ourselves, but even more so in the workplace. There are famous examples of leaders who have taken drastic measures to combat decision fatigue because of the impact it could have on their business.
Steve Jobs wore the same thing every day so he didn’t have to choose what to wear every morning. Similarly, President Barack Obama only wore two types of suits so he could reduce his decision-making.
If you think you’re struggling with decision fatigue, there are many ways to help you reduce your decision load. The key is to become conscious of what is draining your energy. If you notice you’re struggling with poor decisions towards the middle or end of the day, you may benefit from reducing the number of decisions you make.
Here are a few suggestions:
Simplify your wardrobe. Have a few items you wear every day that you can mix-and-match.
Simplify your meal plans. Eat the same thing every workday for breakfast. Do your meal planning on the weekends and eat the same thing every week.
Choose 3 priorities every day. Make a list of everything you need to do tomorrow and prioritize 3 of those things.
Make more space in your calendar. If your schedule is cluttered with meetings and calls that aren’t a priority, delegate or cancel.
Recognize that not every decision is weighty. It’s okay to not put pressure on yourself to always make the “right” decision.
Prioritize your big decisions for the beginning of the day. By making significant decisions when your energy is fresh, you’ll reduce decision fatigue on consequential matters.
Leadership coach and author John C Maxwell once observed, “Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you.” By becoming conscious of decision fatigue and reducing its effects, you can make the choices that will help you become a more conscious leader.
Work happy. Live happy. BE happy.
Meredith
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The way we work and build teams is rapidly changing. Leaders often feel unprepared to navigate the transition. As a conscious leadership coach, consultant, and communicator, Meredith helps leaders and their teams create new ways of working and relating so they can prepare for the future by consciously co-creating it.
Contact her to develop your conscious leadership and transform your organization into the workplace of the future.
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