Reduce Decision Fatigue to Get your Time & Energy Back
Guest post by Stacy Spensley of Semi-Crunchy Mama®
If you’ve ever stood in front of multiple options feeling unable to make a decision, you’re familiar with decision fatigue.
The idea is that we all wake up in the morning with a full tank of decision-making fuel, and each time we make a choice, it uses a little bit of that fuel up. What to eat, what to wear, which way to drive to work… all of those require us to make choices.
Now if you have kids, like I do, having to help them make decisions (or choose for them) drains a lot of that fuel right out of you, and that’s how you end up staring at the fridge wishing that dinner would just leap out at you.
So here are 5 ways you can help prevent or reduce decision fatigue in your life so that you can make choices more efficiently that are in line with your values.
Create Habits and Routines
The first is to create a daily routine. I’m writing this after months of sheltering in place due to COVID-19, and a huge problem for people at first was just being thrown off their routines. Times we normally run on autopilot were disrupted, and it suddenly took up more of that precious decision-making fuel to get through the day.
Decide what a routine might look like for you and what might need to shift, especially if you’re currently working from home. Obviously not every day will be the same, but you can generally create a shape to follow.
I start my morning with a gratitude practice, then get up and drink a glass of water. It’s simple, but works for me.
In his book, Atomic Habits, James Clear talks about small shifts that make a big impact, and habits create that foundation. He introduces an approach he calls “habit stacking.” This is where you build on what you’re already doing so you don’t have to make the decision each time. For example, maybe you want to add in taking a walk after lunch.
To stack habits, maybe you eat lunch, wash your dishes, then immediately go put on your walking shoes. You train your brain to walk from the kitchen sink to where your shoes are so you don’t have to think, “Now it’s after lunch and I was going to go for a walk but…”
Right now we may need to create new habits since our previous associations (like stopping at the gym after work, or swinging by the farmers market after yoga) may not be available. Building in habits, like a routine, allows us to build muscle memory and think less about making choices that we want.
Put Everything in Your Phone
My husband and I have a shared Google Calendar where we put appointments and family commitments and other reminders. Then an alert just pops up half an hour before I need to do something, just like magic!
This frees up my brain space from remembering things and I can just follow my own pre-scheduled directions. This is especially helpful since I have young kids and am being pulled in 17 directions at any given moment.
Marie Forleo likes to say, “If it’s not scheduled, it’s not real.” So putting reminders and time blocks into my calendar helps me prioritize what I need to do without wasting all my decision-making fuel before I’ve even started any tasks.
Things I put in my phone:
When to meal plan (see next section)
What’s for dinner
When my bills are due
Appointments
Reminders to follow up with people
Deadlines
When to schedule medical or dental check ups
Meal Planning
This is one I resisted for YEARS, but after I had my first child, I caved to the necessity of meal planning. By dinnertime your brain is empty and you can’t figure out what to make for dinner, even if you’re hungry. Sound familiar?
By deciding what’s for dinner in advance, you can save time, money, and precious brain cells. It reduces food waste, “emergency” takeout you didn’t budget, and trips to the grocery store.
Here’s my approach:
Choose the same day/time to plan each week, preferably the day before your biggest shopping trip of the week, or the day your CSA box arrives. Now put it in your calendar!
Check any big events for the week, and the weather (you’re not roasting anything when it’s 90F and you have plans that night).
Make a list of all the meals you really like. Optional: Add a list of recipes you want to try.
Choose from your list and slot those meals into each day. I add them to our family Google Calendar.
Include no more than one new recipe per week. If you want takeout, plan for it! And schedule in leftovers if necessary.
Add needed items to the grocery list as you go.
Voila! Meal planning. Decisions are made.
Prep the Night Before
I have a love/hate relationship with this one because it’s a game changer, but I’m also tired and just want to relax after my kids are finally asleep. Prepping the night before and making a checklist is where it’s at to prevent me from running late and forgetting things.
Things I love to have done already:
Pack my lunch
Pick out my clothes
Pack my work bag
Put my water bottle next to the sink
Put my reusable travel mug by the back door
Write up my task list of 3 items for the next day
I do this even if I’m working from home! There’s less interruption to the flow of my day if I can just grab my lunch instead of having to decide what to eat and make it. Also, listing my top 3 priorities lets me start working faster in the morning.
Reduce Wardrobe Overwhelm
The fridge and the closet are the two places I spent the most time staring at, dreading making choices. But most of us only wear a fraction of our clothes anyway! [Missy: Yes! 10-20% is the average.]
Choosing your clothes the night before can help a ton, but you still have to pick them out. If you can narrow down your choices to begin with, it makes the whole process easier. That’s why Trader Joe’s is less exhausting to shop at than a larger grocery store (minus the parking lots which are always terrible).
Especially for women in business, it can sound limiting to have fewer options, but we always assume that people notice what we’re wearing more than they actually do. You can still accessorize to create variety, but make getting dressed in the morning take way less effort. Think of it as a power uniform you can choose!
There are tons of resources on capsule wardrobes, or if you find that overwhelming like I do, you can also delegate the hard parts of the process out to someone like Missy.
And that’s it!
If that feels overwhelming, don’t start all at once.
Pick one item and build from there.
Be patient with yourself.
Approach it as an experiment to see what does and doesn’t work for you.
If you found this helpful, please share this article with a friend who could use it! And comment below with one thing you already do and one you want to try.
About the Author
Stacy Spensley is the founder of Semi-Crunchy Mama® where she supports parents of young kids through self-care and survival strategies. She works with families one-on-one, teaches classes and workshops, and facilitates an online community in the Semi-Crunchy Mama® Club. You can connect with her on her Facebook page, Instagram, or her website.