Decision Fatigue

What am I going to wear today? What do I want to grab for breakfast? Do I want a hot coffee or iced coffee at the drive-thru? Should I bring donuts into the office today? Do I need to talk to Bob before the meeting this morning or just wait to see how it goes? What are we going to do for dinner tonight? Do I have time to attend that training this afternoon or not?

While you might feel as if you make dozens of decisions a day, you don’t; you actually make a lot more than that. The average person makes thousands of decisions every day. Some sources estimate that adults make approximately 35,000 decisions each day. According to researchers at Cornell University, we make 226 decisions each day on just food alone!

Just looking at those numbers is exhausting. From impulse buys at the grocery store to major life choices, decision fatigue impacts your life whether you realize it or not. 

‘Decision fatigue’ is a term coined by the social psychologist Roy F. Baumeister, and refers to the deteriorating quality of choices made by an individual throughout the day. In other words, your decision-making ability gets more tired the more you use it. Why this is important to know is because, if you have already made dozens of small decisions before you even leave the house in the morning, your decision-making skills may not be as sharp as you want or need them to be when you have to make a big decision later that afternoon.

Although decision fatigue can be a challenge, lessening the number of decisions you need to make on a daily basis can keep your skills sharp for when you need them for something important. Here are three ways to do that starting today.

Can Someone Else Make This Decision?

Empowering my team to take control of decision-making not only decreases the number of decisions I need to make in a given day, but also builds their confidence. I believe in my team, that’s why they are on my team. By trusting them to have the information, knowledge, and credibility to make daily decisions on their own, without having to always “double-check” with me, takes a lot of those small, yet constant, decisions off my plate.

Change that habit by making it clear to those you trust that they do not always have to check in with you about every little thing. Communicate your confidence in them and give them permission to take ownership of their decisions on a daily basis knowing that, if they really need you for something, they can reach out.

Does This Decision Need To Be Made Right Now?

Some days it feels like questions are being constantly shot at me with a catapult; it’s endless. A text comes in asking for my input, and as I’m typing back, an email pops up with another question that needs to be answered. As I shift to my laptop to type, another notification ‘dings’ to let me know yet another person wants to see what I think about something. While empowering your teams and trusting them to make good decisions on a daily basis helps to minimize these, there are times when someone truly needs you to be a decision maker. The question to ask yourself when that happens is, “Do I need to make this decision right now?”

Often, the answer is no.

Give yourself permission to respond instead of react. Unless the decision is of an urgent nature, you are allowed to come back to it later when you have more time or a clearer headspace. Not everything is an emergency, and it's good to remind yourself of that.

What Decisions Can I Make Before I Need To Make Them?

You can make some decisions before they need to be made. A well-known example of this is how Apple co-founder Steve Jobs wore the exact same outfit every single day; a black turtle-neck and jeans. The decision of what to wear no longer had to be made; he opened his closet each morning and the decision was already taken care of. That choice alone not only saved countless hours (probably entire days over his lifetime), but also reduced a great deal of stress at the beginning of every day.

What are some things you make decisions about regularly that can be put on autopilot? Whether it’s laying out your clothes the night before or creating routines so that all you need to do is start, deciding things ahead of time can help your day flow in a way that is intentional and less stressful.

Knowing that you are going to be making tons of choices every day, think about little shifts you can make in your own life to lessen the number of them. Whether it’s organizing your stuff in a more efficient way, creating routines, or giving people you trust the “go-ahead” to make daily decisions for you, when you keep your decision-making skills sharp and focused when you really need them to be, your stress levels go down and your momentum goes up. The result? A calmer and more productive day.