Decision Fatigue: How to Make Better Choices with Less Stress
Jun 12, 2024Season 1Episode 44
Behnaz Vala
Ever found yourself exhausted from deciding what to eat for dinner or regretting those late-night impulse buys?
Learn how to conquer decision fatigue and reclaim your mental energy in today’s episode of Mindset Mastery for Business Success. We uncover the ways decision fatigue drains your willpower and how it impacts your daily life.
I'll arm you with practical strategies like setting routines, planning, and batching decisions to boost your productivity and ensure you make better choices.
But that's not all—we're also building a thriving community around this podcast. Subscribe, share, and leave comments to join the conversation. Connect with like-minded individuals in our free Facebook group, Mindset Mastery for Business Success, where you can access even more support and insights.
Plus, get a sneak peek at what’s coming next as we continue to explore essential topics that fuel entrepreneurial victory. Your journey to unparalleled success starts here!
Ever found yourself exhausted from deciding what to eat for dinner or regretting those late-night impulse buys?
Learn how to conquer decision fatigue and reclaim your mental energy in today’s episode of Mindset Mastery for Business Success. We uncover the ways decision fatigue drains your willpower and how it impacts your daily life.
I'll arm you with practical strategies like setting routines, planning, and batching decisions to boost your productivity and ensure you make better choices.
But that's not all—we're also building a thriving community around this podcast. Subscribe, share, and leave comments to join the conversation. Connect with like-minded individuals in our free Facebook group, Mindset Mastery for Business Success, where you can access even more support and insights.
Plus, get a sneak peek at what’s coming next as we continue to explore essential topics that fuel entrepreneurial victory. Your journey to unparalleled success starts here!
Welcome to Mindset Mastery for Business Success podcast, where we delve into the secrets behind achieving your goals and unlocking your full potential. I'm your host, B behnoz Vala, a certified belief-clearing practitioner and mindset coach dedicated to helping entrepreneurs clear their limiting beliefs and money blocks so they can achieve the financial success they desire and deserve. Each week, we will explore a topic designed to help you overcome challenges, maximize opportunities and achieve unparalleled success in your entrepreneurial endeavors. From mastering resilience to cultivating innovation, from enhancing productivity to fostering a growth mindset, we will leave no stone unturned in our quest for excellence. But this podcast isn't just about theory. It's about practical, actionable insights that you can implement right away to make a real difference in your business and your life. Thank you for tuning in to Mindset Mastery for Business Success. Get ready to unleash your potential, ignite your passion, transform your mindset and become more successful than your wildest dreams.
Behnaz:
Have you ever experienced decision fatigue? I'm sure you have. You may just not have had a word for it. It's that feeling when you get toward the end of a busy and even stressful day and you simply can't make another decision. You can't figure out what you should cook for dinner, and even the idea of picking something to watch on Netflix seems like a chore. Those are the days you've been suffering from decision fatigue. We all experience them, and the more taxing your job is and the more you're required to make decisions throughout the day, the more you find yourself suffering from decision fatigue. That shouldn't come as a big surprise. When we spend all day walking or running around, we feel tired in the evening and our muscles fatigue. If you've ever participated in any endurance sports event or gone for a long run after a period of inactivity, you've experienced muscle fatigue. Why shouldn't we experience the same when we tax our mind with lots of decision making? Not only does decision fatigue impair our ability to make decisions all together, but it also affects the quality of our decision-making and our willpower. In short, after a long day of making good choice, after good choice, we tend to start making bad ones. There's a reason we see a lot of made-for-TV products and infomercials on TV late at night, and it isn't just because of the cheaper advertising rates late at night. And it isn't just because of the cheaper advertising rates. It's because that's the time of day where we're most prone to making impulse purchases. It's also when we give up on our diets and healthy eating intentions.
Behnaz:
Keep this idea of decision fatigue in mind when you try to get a few last-minute tasks done at the end of a long day. That may not be the best time for important choices or tasks that require well-thought-out responses or clear decision-making. Similarly, you should expect your team members, co-workers, bosses and loved ones to experience the same co-workers, bosses and loved ones to experience the same no-transcript. Your chances of getting a yes significantly increase if you wait until first thing Monday morning. Don't expect your family to make healthy dinner and snack choices in the evening. Instead, plan your meals early in the day and have them figured out well before lunchtime. So don't tackle important or difficult decisions late in the day. Don't tackle important or difficult decisions late in the day, particularly if you've made a lot of decisions in the hours leading up to it already.
Behnaz:
Now that we have established that there is such a thing as decision fatigue, we will look into some things we can do to avoid it. The answer is simple we need to find a way to reduce the number of decisions we make on a daily basis. Here are some simple ideas for cutting some of them from our lives. Use habits and routines to your advantage. Let's start with something you already know how to do and you may just not realize it. That's creating routines and habits to cut back on the decisions you have to make. You don't have to decide to brush your teeth every morning or talk yourself into deciding to go to work today. Instead, it's a habit and something you do without having to think about and, more importantly, without having to waste one of your precious and limited decisions.
Behnaz:
As you go about your day and make decisions, particularly if they are decisions that you make on a regular basis, stop yourself and see if there is a way you can turn that decision into a habit or routine. Instead of spending the first minutes of your day figuring out what you should wear, create a simple uniform for yourself. Find a few pairs of similar pants and a couple of mix-and-match tops. Rotate through those outfits so you always know what to wear on a given morning. If there is a recurring task at work, you should schedule to do it first thing in the morning or right before you head to lunch. That gets it out of the way without having to decide when to take care of it.
Behnaz:
Plan ahead Another great solution is to batch your decisions and plan ahead. Let's use your food choices as an example. We all eat and we make quite a few daily decisions about what to eat. You can cut those out of your daily routine by creating a weekly or monthly meal plan. Start with dinner. Sit down and come up with your dinner ideas for the week. Write them down and post them on the fridge door. When you go grocery shopping, be sure to pick up everything you need. That way, you don't have to agonize about what to fix for dinner when you get home after a long day at the office. From there, expand and include breakfast and lunch plans as well. You can even choose a daily stack for yourself For bonus points. Create a couple of these menus and start rotating through them week after week. Once you've made your original meal plans, there's no more decision making involved.
Behnaz:
You can easily adapt this principle to other areas of your life and work. Sit down and make out a to-do list first thing in the morning or before you head home in the afternoon. You can batch a whole bunch of decisions together and have a game plan for your workday. Think about other ways to incorporate this into your life and cut back on the decisions you make. Delegate and cut down choices. Last but not least, start reducing the choices you have to make altogether.
Behnaz:
Not every decision has to be made by you. If you're working in a team or have people under you, don't be afraid to delegate. Yes, in the beginning it's a little extra work to explain what needs to happen and what's involved, but as you trust to delegate and give these people more and more responsibility, your decision-making tasks will be considerably cut back. That allows you to focus on the critical stuff. Another great strategy is to simply cut down on the number of choices you give yourself and others. Get in the habit of trimming the list before you even attempt to choose. These tips may seem like little things, but they will quickly add up. It doesn't take a lot of decision cutting back to notice a big difference in when and how hard decision fatigue hits. Give it a try.
Behnaz:
Good news Decision-making ability replenishes. Yes, the good news is that your decision-making abilities replenish, and they do so regularly. Replenish and they do so regularly. Let's go over the various ways we can encourage that replenishment and when and how it happens. Naturally, in general, your decision-making ability replenishes with rest and with relaxation. Since we're getting less and less of that in these busy times. It's no wonder decision fatigue is becoming a big issue Decision-making ability. Don't panic when you find yourself unable to make another decision at the end of a long day. Sleeping replenishes your ability to make smart choices.
Behnaz:
Overnight, you will be back to a clear head and able to make important decisions in the morning. Use this to your advantage. If you feel decision fatigue is setting in, you should slow down things for the rest of the day. Don't schedule important meetings in the evening and use your mornings wisely. Sometimes it pays to take a mental health day. We all get busy and we all get stressed out from time to time. When a good night's sleep doesn't seem quite enough to bring your decision-making batteries back to full strength, it may be a good idea to take the day off. Do something fun, relax, de-stress and, most importantly, make as few decisions as possible, and certainly no important decisions. You will come back refreshed and ready to go, go outside and get some air.
Behnaz:
Sometimes, taking a day off or waiting for the following morning is not an option. An important decision is expected from you before you leave the office or within the next hour or so, if you're feeling decision fatigue is setting in. When a decision is needed. There are two things I want you to remember. The first is that all other decisions can wait. Focus on making just the one that you can't wait. Go outside, get some air and clear your head before you make your choice. While this won't work as well as sleep or a day off, it may be just enough to give you that little boost of energy and willpower you need to make the right decision. Last but not least, let's talk about taking a few days off and going on vacation. You know from experience how invigorating and restful a trip can be. Let's talk about taking a few days off and going on vacation. You know from experience how invigorating and restful a trip can be. Take advantage of this and come back ready to make those important decisions about the future of your company, your family or what projects you want to tackle during the next quarter.
Behnaz:
As we wrap up on decision fatigue, it's essential to remember that the choices we make every day, big or small, have a cumulative impact on our mental energy. Decision fatigue can creep up on us in subtle ways, often leading to procrastination. Leading to procrastination, impulsivity or a decline in the quality of our decisions as the day progresses. By recognizing the signs of decision fatigue, such as feeling overwhelmed, easily frustrated or struggling to make even simple choices, we can take proactive steps to mitigate its effects. Implementing strategies like simplifying choices through routines, delegating less critical decisions, prioritizing important decisions during peak energy times and taking regular breaks to recharge can help us maintain our mental clarity and make more thoughtful, deliberate decisions throughout the day. Above all, remember to use your decision-making skills wisely and learn to recognize decision fatigue before it leads you to make a bad choice.
Behnaz:
Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share it with your friends and family. I would also love to hear your thoughts and experiences, so leave a comment and share them with me. Also, I would love to invite you to join my free Facebook group, mindset Mastery for Business Success, and discover more. The link to join is in the show notes. Stay tuned for the next episode, where we will continue to explore important topics related to mindset mastery for business success. I'm so looking forward to talking to you next time. Expect the best, and the best will happen to you.