Coping with decision fatigue

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The need to choose requires energy, time, mental work from you. No wonder you get tired of it and start making shortsighted and ineffective decisions. A well-thought-out plan can help cope with fatigue.

Have you noticed that Steve Jobs, Barack Obama and Mark Zuckerberg always wear the same clothes in public? Why do these powerful and wealthy people look like they never buy new things? Obviously, it's not about solvency. There must be some other logical explanation.

It's all about the concept of preselection. This is a simple technique for getting rid of the need to make decisions when strength is running out. It is an effective way to conserve energy and combat procrastination and irrational behavior.

In short, Zuckerberg and Obama just don't waste time and energy on trivial things like choosing clothes. Instead of thinking about what to wear, they save the strength for more complex decisions that could affect millions (if not billions) of people.

Everyone, regardless of profession, income level or social class, experiences decision fatigue.

John Tierney American writer

Rapidly evolving technology opens up endless possibilities for us. And forced to make so many decisions like never before. The desire to make the right choice sooner or later leads to nervous exhaustion.

What should be done in this case? Make fewer decisions while conserving energy for the things that really matter.

1. Define a goal

Start with the ultimate goal. What do you want to achieve? What is your intention? Or, as writer Simon Sinek would say, start by asking "Why?" Decide for yourself what you want to do, in what ways you can achieve your goal and, most importantly, why you need it.

2. Come up with a script

The day-to-day decision-making process can be facilitated by a well-thought-out scenario.

Make a plan. Include what you do every day and what you would like to do. Think about what you will do when you wake up, when and what you will eat, how you will pack, what you will wear, how you will get to work, what you will do on the road, how will your working day go …

Think about frequent situations when you are required to make a decision. For example, how would you respond to an invitation to dinner if you are busy? How will you deal with urgent tasks? What do you say if you are offered a drink after work? The more possible situations you think of, the better.

Script writing can be thought of as an accumulation of habits. To simplify the process, use this template: "After I [existing habit], I will [new habit]."

• After I wake up, I will drink two glasses of water.
• After drinking the water, I will have breakfast.
• After we eat, I will meditate for 30 minutes.
• Etc.

You add a new habit to an existing one, and the new behavior is more likely to fit into your daily routine. As a result, you spend less energy on making decisions.

3. Improve the environment

Is your script ready? So, it's time to learn how to perform these actions automatically. Work on your environment so that it is conducive to success, rather than interfering with what you want to do.

1. Plan your day the day before. Planning and prioritizing eats up some of your energy. If you don't want to start a new day with this, take care of the schedule in advance.
2. Have breakfast. According to psychologist Roy F. Baumeister, the easiest way to gain willpower is to have breakfast. When you eat, your body gets the energy it needs. Glucose is needed to gain willpower quickly, so eat something sweet.
3. Make the most important decisions in the morning. After a long, deep sleep and a nutritious breakfast, you have all the strength you need to tackle complex challenges that require your creativity and analytical skills.
4. Save the afternoon for non-creative and automated tasks. No matter how well prepared you are, how well you eat and sleep, your brain still gets tired of work and you are spending your limit on decision making. Therefore, in the afternoon, reschedule routine tasks that do not need to think a lot.
5. Use task lists. We live in the era of lists, but not everyone knows how to use them correctly. Think of lists as scenarios for specific situations. For example, you might create a procrastination to-do list that lists all the fun things to do to get you in the mood for work: clean your email, learn a new language, sort your photos.
6. Say no more often and take less commitment. Just say no to new opportunities that won't help you reach your ultimate goal. It's easy to give in to your senses and agree to a tempting offer, but this way you overwhelm your already busy schedule and force yourself to make more decisions.
7. Remove obstacles. To make everyday life easier, eliminate the need to make small decisions about what to wear, where to go … Prepare everything in advance. For example, if you are distracted by the TV, leave to work in another room.

4. Control yourself

It is important to monitor your behavior. Almost 40% of all actions per day we perform out of habit, without thinking. But in order to acquire a new habit or get rid of an old one, you have to control yourself more. Try taking notes to understand what drives you when you do certain things.

A simple example. Have you ever - three minutes after leaving the house - began to doubt that you closed the door? Did you come back to check? And of course the door was closed? You are not paranoid. You just closed the door automatically, and your consciousness did not register it.

The solution to the problem is simple: add awareness. The next time you close the door, say to yourself three times: "I am locking the door." When everything is closed, tell yourself, "I closed the door."

These apps will help you become more focused:

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Start tracking your habits to help you make better decisions. Applications will help you with this:

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• Strides,
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• Habitica.

No diet in the world will work if you count on quick results. The control of the number of decisions made is the same. But it's worth a try. Streamline your daily decision-making process and you will achieve all of your goals and be able to live by doing only the things that matter to you.