Are you tired of wasting your precious energy on decision fatigue? Learn all about how to reduce decision fatigue in this blog post!
This post is all about decision fatigue and how to reduce decision fatigue in your everyday life!
Have you ever felt overwhelmed by all of the options at the grocery store?
Have you ever felt mentally drained after trying to find the perfect outfit in a closet full of clothes?
Can you relate to not even wanting to watch a show after spending 30 minutes looking through all of the options on Netflix?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, then you have suffered from decision fatigue!
Leading a successful life is all about making the right decisions. From deciding what to wear at a job interview to contemplating if you should take the job, we make uncountable decisions each day. However, this constant mental exercise sometimes leaves us mentally drained and unable to make the right choice. If you have ever procrastinated while making important decisions or indulged in avoidance behaviors such as impulse buying, you are likely to have experienced decision fatigue. Decision fatigue can impact our daily lives if we are not careful and drain our mental energy. This blog post is going to cover everything on how to reduce decision fatigue so you can reclaim your mental clarity.
What Is Decision Fatigue?
Decision fatigue is the burnout experienced when the mind becomes exhausted with the constant decision-making process. This results in irrational trade-offs and a deteriorating quality of subsequent decisions. Although it seems like a made-up problem, it is every bit as real. According to numerous reports, former president Barak Obama wore the same black suit every day to reduce the number of decisions he had to make.
How does decision fatigue affect your brain and logical thinking?
The brain is just an organ, and like other organs, constant mental exercise can cause our brain to take shortcuts or engage in irrational trade-offs just to arrive at a decision.
According to Dr. MacLean, a psychiatrist, the average person makes at least 35,000 decisions every day. This number of daily decisions sometimes fogs your brain, makes you feel tired, and makes you indulge in avoidance behaviors. Yes, sometimes decision fatigue manifests itself as procrastinating while deciding. This could ultimately damage your personal or professional life; hence it is very important to address this if you are experiencing burnout. You cannot get rid of decision fatigue completely but you can take steps to limit it.
Here are 7 practical ways to limit decision fatigue in your daily life:
1.) Pick out your weekly outfits in one sitting. You’ve heard of meal prepping, but what about outfit prepping? We all know the feeling of standing at the closest door, thinking about what we should wear. If you do this all at once, you will be set for the week. Bonus Tip: Do this on the days you do your laundry so you have all your clothes to work with.
2.) Plan out your weekly menus in advance and write your grocery lists accordingly. Not only does it save time and streamline the process, but it also reduces the number of decisions you have to make on a weekly basis. You will reduce decision fatigue while at the grocery store and while you cook.
3.) Let others make less critical decisions. For example, let your partner decide the venue for date night, or let your kids pick out the movie.
4.) Try my decision fatigue-fighting productivity hack: The If Nothing, But List! Details in the TikTok linked below.
@radiantlynourished The If Nothing, But List is a life savor on days when you have a million little things you want to get done. Simplify your to-do list in a way that makes it so easy to do what you need to do. Try this simple productivity tip next time you are feeling overwhelmed. ✍🏼✔️🤍 #productivitytip #wellnesstip #wellnesstips #productivity #wellnesslifestyle #decisionfatigue ♬ original sound – Radiantly Nourished
5.) Stop second-guessing your decisions, this ultimately leaves you with more decisions. You almost always know the right choice immediately.
6.) Prioritize important decisions in the morning because studies have shown that our decision-making power is greatest in the mornings. Think of the battery as full at the start of each day.
7.) Make wishlists in the notes section of your phone for everything! For example have a running list of all of the restaurants you want to try, clothes that have caught your eye, recipes you’re interested in, movies you want to watch, ideas for gifts, etc. This will help you keep track of your desires and you can always refer back to them rather than making impulse decisions or suffering through decision fatigue for no reason. So next time you feel like watching Netflix, check your wishlist to see if you wrote down any movie suggestions!
Benefits of limiting decision fatigue:
To fully understand the benefits of limiting decision fatigue, visualize your decision-making power as a finite source- a battery, for example. Each time you use this resource, it drains a tiny bit of that battery. And ultimately, when you use up all the battery, you are no longer capable of making the right decisions. This is why it is extremely important to identify this problem and take prompt steps to limit decision fatigue.
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Thank you for reading,
Jordana
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