Decision Fatigue

Imagine you are at the end of a hard exercise routine and you can hardly push your body to do anymore work. Your muscles are suffering from fatigue, and you are ready to give up. Your physical abilities have been depleted.

The same concept can be applied to your mental abilities.

Specifically, there is a concept called decision fatigue, which describes how people struggle with their choices after making too many decisions in a given day.

Roy F. Baumeister, a social psychologist, coined the term decision fatigue in reference to the decline in the quality of decisions that are made by a person after many decisions have been made in a row. You start to resist any change, any potentially risky move. You may even decide to give up and do nothing when you are faced with a decision.

Decision fatigue refers to the idea that your willpower or ability to make good choices deteriorates after an extended period of decision making. When you're forced to make hard decisions for an extended period of time, it's easy to make bad choices, or to avoid making decisions at all.

How Decision Fatigue Impacts You

Decision fatigue helps explain why ordinarily sensible people get angry at colleagues and families, splurge on spending, buy junk food at the supermarket and can’t resist the dealer’s offer to rustproof their new car. No matter how rational you try to be, you can’t make decision after decision without it taking a toll on you, both physically and mentally.

It’s different from ordinary physical fatigue — you’re not consciously aware of being tired, though 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 act impulsively instead of expending the energy to first think through the consequences. The other shortcut is the ultimate energy saver. Instead of agonizing over decisions, do nothing. Ducking a decision often creates bigger problems in the long run, but for the moment, it eases the mental strain. 

How to Prevent Decision Fatigue

Make Your Most Important Decisions in the Morning

Your mind is the clearest during the morning hours because you’re not worn out from the day’s activities yet. Consider taking some time while you are going over your most important tasks for the day to make any important decisions that are scheduled to come your way.

Choose Simple Options for Less Important Decisions

For the lower priority items on your to-do list that have no real  impact in the long run, go for the simpler option. Which option makes you feel less overwhelmed? Which is the easiest thing to do right now?

Don't Make Big Decisions When You're Hungry

We have all heard about the dangers of going grocery shopping while hungry. Research also suggests that we shouldn't make any important decisions on an empty stomach. When you’re hungry, your stomach produces a hormone called ghrelin, which negatively impacts decision making.

This appetite-increasing hormone decreases impulse control and makes it difficult to resist impulses and quick temptations.

Limit and Simplify Your Choices

If you are faced with too many decisions (like what to eat, wear, or watch on TV) , narrow it down to three choices at a time. If you can't make a decision within the three choices that you have limited yourself to, choose another three options to consider.

So, say you’re going through the menu at a restaurant and you’re trying to decide what you want to eat. Narrow the menu down to three choices at a time until you are able to decide what's best for you. This will help prevent you from becoming overwhelmed with all of the information in front of you.

Remember to De-Stress

Take time throughout the day to decompress, whether it’s going for a walk, meditating, doing hypnosis, taking a shower, or just “vegging out” for a bit. Recognize when you begin to feel overwhelmed, and understand that your mind and body is telling you to take a break∎