In the world we live and work in, the pace of change & challenge has never been faster. It’s becoming commonplace to experience a block when it comes to making key decisions. 🚫
What is it?
Decision fatigue is described as mental and emotional exhaustion thsat happens when you’re forced to make too many decisions (particulalrly high stakes ones) in a row. Your brain treats every choice like a small task. Over time, these tasks add up and drain your mental energy. When that energy runs low, your ability to think clearly drops.
In real life this is when you are stood staring at the neverending shelves of bread in your supermarket or deli paralysed by the overwhelming levels of choice. We’ve been there. Damn you garlic focaccia.
Common Signs
- Procrastination: You delay simple tasks because picking a path feels too hard.
- Impulsivity: You make fast, careless choices just to finish the process.
- Brain fog: You feel hazy, unfocused, or mentally slow.
- Irritability: Small questions or requests make you angry or frustrated.
Why It Happens
The human brain can suffer from choice overload. Yep, it’s as simple as it sounds. Having too many options for simple things, like what to eat, drink or wear. It often appears in high stakes work scenarios when someone is regularly and repeatedly having to make hard or important choices under heavy pressure. If this affects how someone then sleeps or rests it can become more intense and manifest into stress which lowers your brain power further.
How to Prevent It
- Make big choices early: Decide important things in the morning when your mind is fresh.
- Build routines: Wear similar clothes or eat similar meals to cut out minor choices.
- Limit options: Restrict your choices to two or three items instead of looking at dozens.
- Use a model: Use a decision making model to help you.
If you think we can help you with decision making then drop us a line, we’d love to help.
Sara & Rhi
