A certain kind of decision fatigue
There’s a certain kind of decision fatigue that I’m thinking of this week.
It’s less about the grocery store kind of decision fatigue (choice overload), or the kind that comes from too much scrolling, although it’s related to both.
This week I’m thinking of the kind of decision fatigue that comes from making too many decisions throughout the day.
It can be hard to tell that it’s happening. It doesn’t obviously sink the day, or cause noticeable fatigue (in most cases). But the cumulative brain drain makes us less and less judicious throughout the day, resulting in choices that may not be aligned with our best interests.
It also adds friction to a day’s forward momentum. It’s an interrupter. Constantly making decisions can cause us to intellectually hesitate, and over the course of the day these hesitations drain us, making it harder to make any kind of decision at all.
When we’re not in the mood to make decisions, we end up defaulting to the path of least resistance. In our fatigued state, electing new options becomes challenging.
This has direct implications when trying to form new habits and patterns. Those new choices we try to make cost us additional cognitive currency, which is hard to afford after a full day. The “as usual” decision costs less, which is all we can spare sometimes.
That’s why this week I’m trying to focus on removing unnecessary choices from my day to day, to see if I can save the energy and rededicate it to more purposeful choices.
Here are 3 ways that help remove unnecessary decision-making so you can put your energy towards more important things.
Plan the morning
Chefs use the term mise en place to refer to the proper kitchen set up before nightly service begins. Everything is in the right place, prepped and arranged in the most convenient position allowable.
Our morning recipes, so to speak, can on most days be anticipated to a certain degree. How many of the ingredients can be put in place ahead of time?
What decisions can be pre-arranged to help the tired morning brain allocate fewer resources towards making choices in the first hour of the day? Mini-decisions count, too (what mug am I using?).
The morning context is unique because it throws many, small steps at a morning mind that often lacks in its usual resiliency. All these little tasks cost more to a tired brain.
It’s the avoidable snags that are the ones to plan for. The unforced errors.
What can you do the night before to remove small steps or hiccups from the morning?
What can be cleaned, packed, pulled out, moved out of the way, or put in front of the door to reduce the morning hustle by 10%?
When possible, it makes more sense to do these small activities at night. Not just so you save a few minutes in the morning, but more so you can glide through the first hour of the day without burning cognitive energy by making a bunch of small, insignificant decisions.
Speaking of a bunch of small, insignificant decisions …
The phone is an early morning snag that can open up a pandora’s box of unnecessary optionality. “1,000 decisions in your pocket.” It’s literally and figuratively opening up all sorts of apps and tabs in the phone and brain, an antithesis to reducing unnecessary questions. This, for me, is #1 to remember.
It’s a hard one to plan for because the phone just always seems to be there.
In this case, let’s hope knowledge is will-power, and trust that keeping the fact in mind that I will expend unnecessary energy by mindlessly phone-gazing will help me to not check it very much in the first hours of my day.
Pre-planning, or at least thinking through the morning steps is one way to reduce wasted energy on making unnecessary decisions.
Master small moments of decision-making
Small moments of decision-making are the “this or that” kind of the decisions that pop up throughout the day. The one-time decisions. It’s hard to plan for them even though they’re guaranteed to appear.
I might take a different approach for options with more significance, but for quick decisions like, should I answer this call, what should I drink with lunch, where should I park, what background music to listen to, and other similar, low-stakes questions, I’ve found it helpful to just cut to the chase.
Mastering small moments of decision-making is making one-time, low-stakes decisions quickly and with 100% confidence. No hesitation, no looking back.
Not all decisions deserve this approach, but it’s certain that some do, and it’s important to avoid deliberation on unimportant decisions.
Energy spent deliberating on choices with little significance is better spent on making choices that have a greater impact on your days.
Finally
While I don’t expect these two changes to be life-changing, I think they’ll prevent me from using up valuable energy on small, but unavoidable choices. As with most things in life, small changes done consistently can add up to more significant change.
A plan for the morning ensures the first few hours of the day get off to a smooth start and avoid any avoidable snags.
Choosing decisively when it comes to rather insignificant decisions will help reserve energy for bigger, more consequential decisions that come up during the day.
And most of all, remembering how technology can affect focus can prevent 10,000 from having to be made.
Thanks for deciding to read this article. I hope this decision was a good use of your brain power today.
