Decision Fatigue
Often, we find ourselves making poor choices, which we know are not helpful, yet we make them anyway. One of the main reasons we make bad choices is because of “decision fatigue.” Decision fatigue is when our brains get tired from making decisions, so we basically give up and make ‘easy’ decisions. Marketers are more than happy to help us make bad decisions. After spending 1-2 hours making hundreds of decisions while grocery shopping, we are then presented with options of candies and snacks as we check-out. We end up paying $1.99 for a soft drink, when we could have bought a six-pack of the same soft drink for $4.99.
A psychology research paper from Cornell compared the number of decisions people thought they were making versus the number of decisions people were actually making. The participants thought they were making about fifteen decisions a day. Instead, they were making over 200! And most of these 200 decisions were about food. No wonder we have such a hard time eating healthy.
There are two main effects on our lives from decision fatigue. The first is that we make impulsive decisions even when good options are right in front of us. We buy the chips and soda even though we don’t need (or even always) want it. The second effect is decision avoidance, which is when we choose to not make any decision at all. An example is when we notice our health declining due to a poor diet and lack of physical activity, yet we choose to continue doing nothing about our problem. The hardest step is the first step.
Knowing that decision fatigue is a real problem in our lives can help us develop strategies for overcoming it. Here are some ideas:
Reduce the number of daily decisions you have to make. Many successful people in business and politics, such as Steve Jobs and former president Obama, are well-known for choosing between only one or two different outfits.
Prepare weekly meals on Sunday. When you start the week off with a fridge full of meals, which only need to be heated in the microwave, this is one less decision to make. There is no more, “Honey/Mom, what’s for dinner?” All the food is already cooked. Each person just pulls out what they want.
Stick to a consistent schedule at work (and block your calendar). One option could be to start your computer, grab a cup of coffee while it’s booting up, then spend your first hour working on your highest priority. Then spend your second hour powering through urgent e-mails before opening up your day for meetings.
Make your bedtime ritual non-negotiable. Set a bedtime, e.g. 10 PM, and also stick to a pre-bedtime routine that starts at 9:30 PM. Your routine could be a bath, light reading, or stretching while listening to Relaxation Radio on Pandora. Treat this time as non-negotiable. When it’s 9:30 at night, you start your routine with no other decisions to make for the rest of the day.