Decision Fatigue [or] Why is it So Hard to Set a Goal?

My sister is a designer for one of the top jewelers in the world. Her office is flanked by hundreds of drawers holding tens-of-thousands of semi-precious stones in every imaginable shade, shape, and size. Each day, she is charged with combining those stones into dozens of beautiful creations. Each day, she leaves work exhausted.

“You don’t understand,” she says. “At the end of the day, I have absolutely nothing left. No energy. Nothing.”

But wait. She works in a nice office, surrounded by beautiful jewelry, and spends most of her day sitting at a desk. There is no physical labor and all the coffee she can drink. Why is she so tired by the end of the day?

It’s called decision fatigue and it is a real thing. Not only does it exhaust you, but it causes you to make increasingly poor decisions with each additional decision you are forced to make.

 Decision fatigue is the reason why stores place candy at the checkout counter—they know that you have used up much of your good-decision making energy choosing between the twenty-six different types of peanut butter offered in aisle five. It is the reason that by 4:00 PM, deciding what to make for dinner can be downright debilitating.

My personal decision fatigue is largely the result of the 400-plus emails that land in my inbox every day. While they don’t all require a thoughtful response, every one of them requires a decision about how they should be handled. It’s exhausting and has led me on a quest to better understand decision fatigue and to develop strategies to combat it. While there is no one magic cure, here are five strategies that can help.

First, understand that decision fatigue is real. Appreciate that you will only be able to make a limited number of good decisions each day. Learn to be judicious in how you spend your high-quality decision-making capital. 

Second, do whatever you can to limit the number of decisions you have to make. Then, make the most important decisions early in the day. President Obama and Mark Zuckerberg wear the same thing every day for the express purpose of removing one decision from their morning. I create a lunch “checklist” for my kids so that they can select what they want in their lunchbox based on what we shopped for on Sunday. Indulgent? Nope. It means they are more likely to eat what is in their lunch and, more importantly, I don’t have to decide what to pack them.

Third, accept the fact that no decision is perfect, and each will be a balance of pros and cons. The all-natural peanut butter is more expensive, the reduced fat has additives, and your kids prefer regular. Unless peanut butter is very important to you for some reason, choose one and move on.

Fourth, don’t second guess a decision once made. Some decisions will work out and others won’t and no amount of second-guessing will prevent you from making mistakes. In fact, the only thing second-guessing a decision will do is burn more of your precious decision-making capacity, which is better spent on the next decision.

Finally, recognize that it is impossible to know which decisions will ultimately be the most important. Years ago, I was wrestling with an important life decision and, as is my way, I needed to talk it to death. I flew to Florida and spent the weekend wearing out my very patient parents with an endless loop of pros and cons, should I and shouldn’t I’s.

Finally my mother said, “You just have to make a decision.”

“But you don’t understand,” I whined. “This is the most important decision of my life.”

Her reply? “No. You don’t know what the most important decision of your life will be. It could be turning right instead of left when you leave your building in the morning: if you turn right you could get hit by a taxi and if you turn left, you could meet the great love of your life.”

Yes, our lives are the product of the decisions we make. Yes, we strive to make good decisions. But your life will be the result of far-reaching implications of decisions that you can’t possibly fathom. All we can do is hold tight to our decision-making capabilities, be mindful of managing the inevitable decision fatigue, and soldier on.

Consider that every single decision you make depletes your capacity, and contemplate where in your typical day you are expending unnecessary decision-making energy. Could you make a meal plan and avoid the “what’s for dinner” decision? Automate delivery of some key things you purchase like toilet paper and dish detergent? Commit to a daily “uniform”? 

Let’s get precious with our decision-making capacity and reserve as much as possible for the things that matter most.