Do You Have Decision Fatigue?

It’s Wednesday, and work’s really getting to you. All week long you’ve just been making decisions over so many things… and there doesn’t seem to be an end for the amount of decisions you have to make! Whether it’s for your professional or personal life, you are constantly overwhelmed with decisions. They may not all necessarily be major decisions but having to make a series of minor choices can weigh on us.

There’s a name for this – experts call it decision fatigue. And it’s exactly what it sounds like: You’re tired of making decisions. How does this affect you? When you are put off from making decisions, you do either of the following:

• You procrastinate the process You just can’t be sussed about making a decision so you think, “I’ll figure it out later”. But later comes and you still can’t seem to make a decision, so you hastily make one simply because you have to!
• You make poor decisions When you have what feels like a gazillion of decisions to make, chances are you’re just going to make poor, unsupported decisions because you want to get it over with.
• You over analyse your decisions! Simple because your brain is going through a fog and what may seem like an easy decision to make becomes difficult because you can’t seem to think it through. BTW, there’s also a name for it – analysis paralysis!

The idea behind decision fatigue is that we all have only so much energy for decision making before it becomes tiring. Every decision that you make depletes you of that energy, until you feel completely tapped out of mental energy to make another decision. This is also why when at the end of a long workday, when a friend asks what you want for dinner, you simply can’t give her an answer because you’re just too tired to think and decide!

Here's how you know if you have decision fatigue:

• You find it difficult to focus or concentrate Not just when you’re making a decision but for everything in general. Perhaps you’ve had a really stressful time at work or personally that required you to weigh in on a lot of decision making. You now find it hard to concentrate on the task at hand because you feel like you’re going through a brain fog.
• You get annoyed when asked for your opinion You’re thinking, “why can’t you bug someone else about this decision!?” If this is you, decision fatigue is real in your life. Your mood changes when you’re asked to decide. Most likely, it makes you annoyed, even at the smallest ask. The decision may be a fairly small and easy decision to make (like what you want to eat for lunch) but because you’re feeling so overwhelmed already, it gets to you that you have to make that decision in the first place.
• You feel generally overwhelmed This is common of decision fatigue, and it is the easiest to identify if you have decision fatigue. You feel like you can’t handle it anymore and wish for someone else to take on the role of decision making. You also suffer from emotional fatigue where all you want to do is just hide under the covers, not having to make a decision or anything at all. Or you try to push the decision making to someone else so that for once, you don’t have to be responsible for anything.
• You don’t care anymore A or B, I don’t care. If this is you, it’s clear that decision fatigue is overtaking your life!

3 Ways to Overcome Decision Fatigue

If any of these signs sound familiar or you’re struggling with making decisions at work, then here’s how you can handle it effectively. Take note that decision fatigue is different from indecisiveness. How do you recognise which is which? Easy – decision fatigue is when you feel your mental energy depleting after making a series of decisions. It makes you feel tired and burnout. Indecisiveness on the other hand usually stems from not being able to make any decisions at all. It is something that is evident from the start whereas decision fatigue usually sets in after you’ve been making decision after decision.

#1 Automate some decisions
Mark Zuckerberg wears the same colour shirt every day. I eat out every Friday. Not having to constantly think about something can mean one less decision to make. Whether it is what you wear or a brand of biscuit to buy, some things can be automated to give yourself the ability to have some form of standard in your life that works. Try it! You’d be surprised at how many decisions you can easily make based on what worked before or worked best.

#2 Delegate if you can!
Unless all decision-making ends with you, it’s OK for you to let others in the team handle things. You don’t have to be the perfectionist who must have the last say in anything. Learn to trust your colleagues in deciding what to present to the client. Follow the flow for once. It will be OK.

#3 Stuck with too many choices?
Narrow down your selection to just three. Don’t question yourself too much. Just choose the final three. Pick the one that speaks out to you most. Sometimes, it can be that easy to make a decision!

Bonus tip: Do you know what’s a good decision to make in this situation? Decide to prioritise your well-being. When you feel a brain fog coming on or when life gets too stressful with the many decisions you have to make, call it quits temporarily. Ask someone else to take the reign while you take a break – a short one even. Or put the decision making off to another day when you have had enough time to recharge and have more clarity.

Photo by 愚木混株 cdd20 on Unsplash.