Did you know that there may be a reason you exhausted at the end of the day which has nothing to do with your sleep patterns, exercise, or nutrition. It may simply be a matter of how many decisions you are making!
It’s called Decision Fatigue…and yes…it’s a real thing. Why did Steve Jobs wear the iconic black turtleneck? Turns out he wasn’t necessarily trying to make a fashion statement. He recognized that he had a determinate capacity for making decisions each day. And he’s not the only one to take this approach. Mark Zuckerberg and Barack Obama have been known to do the exact same thing.
We want options. But the paradox is that, when presented with too many, we are stressed and driven to make less optimal decisions.
Here are a few ways you can combat decision fatigue:
(1) Plan out your work wardrobe for the week on Sunday night – or follow in the footsteps of Jobs and Zuckerberg by simplifying your wardrobe to just a few key pieces.
(2) Pre-make or purchase pre-made breakfasts and lunches to reduce decisions around meals.
(3) Make daily routine to follow such as exercising at the same time each day.
(4) Make the big important decisions in the morning.
These are just a few ideas to start with. Then, look for more ways to reduce the number of decisions you need to make each day – there are probably hundreds of decisions you could eliminate. For example, I am a project manager – the definition of a decision maker! I literally spend my entire day making decisions, which explains why I was feeling exhausted at the end of each day. So I delegated some of these to a junior project manager that I trusted. This gave her more responsibility which will help her grow her career AND helped me combat decision fatigue, leaving more energy and focus to tackle the tougher more critical decisions.
Did this article resonate with you? Leave a comment – I want to hear your thoughts on tackling decision fatigue!