What is "decision fatigue"? And how can we be safe from it?

Just as our "muscles" get tired after a lot of work, so does our "brain" get tired

after making a lot of decisions during the day, which is called decision fatigue.

We are constantly making decisions, and with each decision, we are one step closer to

"decision fatigue." Although not all decisions are big and vital, each one takes its

share of our brain energy: from choosing between two types of toothpaste for a morning

toothbrush and deciding what to wear today and choosing the temperature of the heater

or air conditioner and choosing music for Hearing and picking up a kind of pinner from

the supermarket cheese shelf to deciding how to deal with a child's mistake and

choosing between several options for investment and immigration and ... are all

decisions.

Interestingly, we do not traditionally consider some decisions to be made. For example,

to climb a tower that has three elevators, when we press the button of one of them,

we have, in fact, decided, although we do not include it in the daily decisions.

People whose work and lives are such that they have to make decisions all the time are

more prone to "decision fatigue". In a US study, a number of judges who had to decide

whether to pardon prisoners were examined. It was found that at the beginning of the

day, they review cases better and consider more people to be pardoned, but as they get

closer to the end of the day, they pardon fewer people. The cases were more or less the

same and the judges were fixed. What had changed in the last hours of the day was the

appearance of a "decision fatigue" state that did not exist in the morning.

"When the brain gets tired of making a lot of decisions, it usually makes the right

decisions, which is often the 'worst'," says Rolf_Dubli in The Art of Living Well.

1-When asked about the reason why he always wears a T-shirt, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder

and CEO of Facebook, replied: I do not want to be involved in deciding which cloth to

wear every morning.

By doing so, he eliminates one of his morning decisions and saves his energy for more

important work decisions.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also uses this method and often wears the same kind of

clothes. So was Steve Jobs.

In order for "decision fatigue" to occur later, we should not expose ourselves to

trivial decisions as much as possible. The way is to make a firm decision about some

things. For example, instead of deciding what to cook today, make a weekly or monthly

plan to get rid of daily decisions and save our brain energy.

2- Make important decisions "in the morning". Remember that the closer we get to the

day, the closer we get to "decision fatigue."

3- When there are more options to choose from to make a decision, "decision fatigue"

also increases.

If we go to the street that is a wallpaper exchange to buy wallpaper, we will see

hundreds of designs in dozens of stores and the multiplicity of options will confuse

us. In fact, after seeing dozens of initial designs, we experience "decision fatigue"

and after a while, we choose one of the designs not out of enthusiasm but because of

"decision fatigue" and avoiding the continuation of this process.

One way to deal logically with the multiplicity of options is to divide them into

several smaller groups and examine them three to three to arrive at a final choice,

instead of, for example, examining the 12 options together.

4- When we are "tired of decision", do not decide; Give the brain a chance to

regenerate itself. A little rest and eating a little food that provides glucose to

the brain can reduce "decision fatigue". Half an hour of sleep in the middle of the day

can be effective in preventing fatigue.

5. Perfectionists who want the best output are more likely to be bored with decisions.