Decision Fatigue

Saturday is usually the busiest day for my husband’s dental practice. That is also the day that we usually have take-out for dinner. When my husband is about ready to go home from work, he usually calls me, exhausted, and asks what is for dinner. He usually says that he is too tired to pick and choose which restaurant to order from.

Decision fatigue happens when you have a decreased ability to make more decisions after making many decisions. The time it takes to make any more decisions increases, while the quality of the decisions decreases.

Many of us start making decisions the moment we wake up. We decide if we want to get out of bed or to press the snooze button. We decide what clothes to wear, what to eat for breakfast, what hairstyle to do and more. Then there are more decisions to make at work. Take my husband as an example. For each patient, he has to evaluate and decide what the problem is, what and where is involved, and decide on the plan of approach. Not to mention there are many dental products and different brands out there to buy. Keep making decisions, big and small ones, throughout the day leads to progressive exhaustion, both mentally and physically. At the end of the day, the brain wants to shut down, desperately pleading for a moment of rest.

Have you found yourself in a similar situation?

There are certain factors that increase the risk of decision fatigue. The more decisions you make without taking a break may cause you to feel tired. More complex decisions drain your brain power faster. To decide what to wear in the morning is much simpler than to decide what treatment plan to offer a patient with advanced colon cancer and multiple other medical problems.

The perceived weight of your decision also affects how much your brain power is depleted. If you think it is a decision that has a major impact on someone’s life, you will likely use more time and energy to consider before making the final decision.

Your baseline mental health also plays a big role in mental fatigue. If you are already feeling extreme stress, making a big decision will likely be perceived as another burden to bear.

When you have decision fatigue, the last thing you want to do is to make more decisions. You desire to not think about anything. It will likely take you longer to make a similar kind of decision compared to when you are refreshed. You tend to procrastinate. You make yourself an excuse to do something else rather than making a certain decision (although that doing something else is also a decision itself). You may also have decreased resistance to temptations and a limited ability to uphold your set boundaries. These result in less efficiency, impulse spending and buying, and ultimately not living entirely in alignment with your values.

To tackle decision fatigue and thrive, there are several things you can try.

Keep it simple. Do not think of things more complicated than they are. Make things more routine. For example, if you make certain things a routine, such as exercising before going to work, then you will not have to decide if you should exercise or not.

Plan ahead. Set aside some time in a day to make a certain type of decisions. For example, you use some blocked time on Sundays to decide what to do during the week. You can also plan ahead what food to eat.

Make important and complex decisions first. These types of decisions accelerate brain fatigue, so, if possible, deal with those choices first. Many times we get to make the important decisions throughout the day, such as when you are seeing patients. In those situations, I suggest to make the biggest and most important decision about the patient first, followed by other less intense decisions.

Minimize distractions. Most everything is a decision. The less distractions you have, the less you will have to choose between the distraction, the actual work you are doing, or pursue something entirely different.

Take a break. Pause. Recharge. Take care of yourself. When you are refreshed, you will make decisions faster. The quality of your decisions will be better.

Remember, no matter what, you are capable. You are capable of many things, more than you can imagine. It is also okay to ask for help or guidance sometimes. Talking to someone may also help you with making a better decision.

It is easy to feel stressed when you think that many things are thrown at you all at once, when you think that you have to make many decisions at a time. Take a step back. Face one thing at a time. Prioritize.

It is also a decision to feel stressed or not. What if you decide not to feel stressed? How do you feel about that? How will you show up?