Make decisions
🏷️ Tào lao
A: What is the cause of decision fatigue?
B: Decision fatigue happens when your minds are exhausted after a long period of making decisions. This is because you have a daily threshold for making the decision. When this threshold is met, you will make a conscious choice to “take it easy”, and save serious thinking about any new decisions for another day.
A: How long will I reach that threshold?
B: It depends on variables including frequency, complexity, and novelty of the decision you have to make.
A: Could you give an example?
B: For example, choosing what to eat for breakfast is not very taxing. Not only is this decision limited by what is available, it is also a choice you expect to make once a day with fairly low stakes.
A: What about difficult decisions?
B: Imagine that your car suddenly breaks down, and you need to place it right away. This is an unexpected complicated decision with serious consequences. In this case, there are countless options to choose from, and you will not find them all in one place. To make the optimal choice, you will need to do hours of thoughtful research to consider various pros and cons. Because this is not the option you often make, you also have to identify what considerations are most important. The time pressure can add additional stress both during the decision-making process and afterward, as you expend more energy wondering if you would have made a different decision with more time. This is more dangerous when you need to make high-stakes decisions.
A: How can I tackle the fatigue in my life?
B: You can make fewer decisions. Tackling your to-do list over multiple days, or even removing some rote decisions from your day altogether. It is also typically less draining to offer advice on a hard decision than it is to make that choice yourself. It can be helpful to imagine your decisions as someone else’s before considering how consequences impact you specifically. It is also essential to remember that not every choice is equally important. Learning how to relax about the small stuff can help you save energy for the decisions that truly matter.