5 Tricks To Avoid Decision Fatigue !
We’re constantly making decisions throughout the day. They’re not all necessarily major decisions, but having to make a series of minor choices can weigh on us. Let’s take a closer look at decision fatigue, including what causes it, the signs you’re dealing with it, and 5 Tricks To Avoid Decision Fatigue.
What is Decision Fatigue? | Decision Fatigue Explained
Decision fatigue is the mental exhaustion someone experiences after making a lot of decisions. You either give up and stop making decisions completely, or you’ll make impulsive or irrational choices. Simply put, decision fatigue is a concept that after making many decisions, a person’s ability to make additional decisions becomes worse. This fatigue applies to all decisions, not simply the large or more difficult ones. Decision fatigue is the newest discovery involving a phenomenon called ego depletion, a term coined by the social psychologist Roy F. Baumeister in homage to a Freudian hypothesis.
Decision fatigue helps explain why ordinarily sensible people get angry at colleagues, friends and families, splurge on clothes, buy expansive food at the supermarket and can’t resist the dealer’s offer to rustproof their new car. No matter how rational and high-minded you try to be, you can’t make decision after decision without paying a biological price. It’s different from ordinary physical fatigue, you may not consciously aware of being tired but you’re low on mental energy. The more choices you make throughout the day, the harder each one becomes for your brain. And eventually it looks for shortcuts, usually in either of two very different ways. One shortcut is to become reckless: to act impulsively instead of expending the energy to first think through the consequences. The other shortcut is the ultimate energy saver: do nothing. Instead of agonizing over decisions, avoid any choice. Ducking a decision often creates bigger problems in the long run, but for the moment, it eases the mental strain. So the fatigued judge on a parole board takes the easy way out, and the prisoner keeps doing time.
Difference between Decision fatigue and Indecisiveness
While decision fatigue is mental energy depletion that sets in after making a series of decisions in a fixed time, indecisiveness can be a character trait that results from chronic inability to make decisions, usually stemming from low self-confidence. More specifically, someone who is habitually indecisive often fears making the wrong decision. Although a person who is characteristically indecisive may also suffer from decision fatigue, fearful avoidance is generally at the root of most decision-making issues for the chronically indecisive person. On the other hand, decision fatigue can affect anyone, even those who tend to be extremely decisive.
However, decision fatigue can autocorrect itself within a span of a few hours to a few days, whereas indecisiveness can take longer and significantly more effort to recover.
Common Signs of Decision Fatigue
Unsure if you or someone you know is experiencing decision fatigue? Here are Five signs to look for..
- Avoidance of decision-making tasks
- Feeling overwhelmed and possibly even hopeless
- Spending a lot of time making decisions
- Physical symptoms like fatigue, poor sleep, headaches, and upset stomach
- A sense of dissatisfaction with any choice that is ultimately made
Why it happens
Decision fatigue occurs due to the mental exhaustion we face from having to make too many decisions. People who more frequently have to make decisions based on trade-offs experience decision fatigue more intensely. Business decisions, social interactions, and even leisure time all have their own inherent decisions involved that a person must weigh up and make, either consciously or subconsciously.
More complex decisions may deplete their energy levels faster. As the day goes on and the person has to make more and more decisions, their ability to choose wisely decreases.
5 Steps To Avoid Decision Fatigue | Strategies for Managing Decision Fatigue
For a way to handle Decision Fatigue effectively, here are some tips & strategies :
Making important decisions first | 5 Tricks To Avoid Decision Fatigue
Make most of your important decisions early in the day, when you’re relatively charged with mental energy & leaving lighter decisions for later in the day. Whether it is a tough phone call, hard project, or another difficult task, making important decisions early in the day may help prevent decision fatigue when facing these choices.
Removing distractions
Choosing to look at a cell phone, browse social media, or glance at the television may drain their willpower for tasks later in the day. Removing these distractions may help a person reduce this fatigue and engage with the tasks at hand.
Planning meals
Planning ahead may help eliminate other forms of decision fatigue. A simple example would be to make a meal plan for the week in advance. This can help reduce decision making pressure in the moment and preserve brainpower for more important tasks.
Taking breaks
Physical fatigue may also play a role in decision fatigue. Some people might simply make worse decisions when tired. Taking rest breaks throughout the day as needed may help these people recharge. Some may even benefit from taking a short nap to help refresh their brain.
Narrow Down your choices | 5 Tricks To Avoid Decision Fatigue
When facing too many options, narrow down your selection to three and then, from the final three, pick one. Reducing necessary choices or decisions to make is a common technique used to curve the decision fatigue. A typical example of this is from the initial example with Obama, where he told Vanity Fair in 2012: “you’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits. I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing, because I have too many other decisions to make.
Reference : Lewis, M. (2012, September 11). Obama’s Way. Retrieved August 18th, 2020, from https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2012/10/michael-lewis-profile-barack-obama
Final Takeaway | 5 Tricks To Avoid Decision Fatigue
Decision fatigue describes how our decision-making gets worse as we make additional choices and our cognitive abilities get worn out. Decision fatigue is the reason we feel overwhelmed when we have too many choices to make. Although more research is necessary to fully understand decision fatigue, many people claim to experience its effects. Decision fatigue may manifest in a few different ways, depending on how it affects a person; from impulsive buying to decision avoidance. Using the above 5 Tricks To Avoid Decision Fatigue can go a long way toward improving your mental well-being.
So, why the delay in trying it ?
Read also : The Cockroach Theory Of Self-development | Do Not React, But Respond ( https://thebrightdelights.com/the-cockroach-theory-of-self-development-do-not-react-but-respond/ )