Decision Fatigue

Hey all,

This week, I've been thinking a lot about maximizing the effectiveness of the decisions I make in my life, especially when it comes to test-taking and being as sharp as possible for exams. Luckily, I stumbled upon this TED-Ed video about decision fatigue, inspiring me to write about the topic today.

For those of you who don't know, decision fatigue is a phenomenon that occurs when your mental energy runs out after making a series of decisions, with difficult or impactful decisions draining more energy than routine or menial ones.

Now, I'm not going to go into the science of why this happens or even convince you that it is a real phenomenon (because I'm sure you can think back to a time when a big decision about college, a big purchase, or choosing a career left you feeling tired for days, weeks, or even months.) However, I do want to discuss how we can limit decision fatigue to save energy for more crucial tasks.

Here are a couple of tips I've thought of:

Tip #1: Create Simple Routines and Schedules

A pretty obvious way of diminishing the effects of decision fatigue is by creating routines and schedules.

Studies have shown that our brains are much better at working and making decisions when we have completed or at least documented the other tasks we have on any given day, month, week, or year. So, if you remember to schedule time to work on your daily/weekly tasks, you focus better on the task(s) at hand. By planning out your time, every moment doesn't come with the implicit question of: "Is this what I should be doing right now?" because it's already set in stone.

In addition, making routine decisions, like choosing what to wear for the day or what muscle group you should work out, takes much less energy than making open-ended decisions. So, try to make many of your daily decisions routine because when your brain expects them, decisions are much less draining and can become as simple to you as following a flowchart.

Quick Disclaimer about Overscheduling:

Still, always try to build flexibility into your schedules to limit the decision fatigue you can get from deciding between two plans. For example, having an open time block or a rule like: "Every Sunday, if I have plans with friends, I will always choose that over doing work." is a good way of building self-care into your routine, and it gives your brain a "default" option when your schedule has conflicts. Instead of weighing the pros and cons each time, all your brain has to do is say, "If I have plans I want to attend with my friends, I will go."

Tip #2: Build Self-Confidence and Learn to Stop Worrying

The second factor I feel is vital in limiting decision fatigue is increasing your self-confidence.

Worrying is one of the most draining things the human mind can do, and questions like "What if I can't do X?" or "What will people think of Y?" are, in turn, hugely detrimental to both your self-image and your mental energy.

That's why having confidence in your appearance, intellectual abilities, or any other aspect of your person is so important because it enables you to stop worrying and spend mental energy on things that matter to you. So if you can, work to improve yourself and your self-confidence, and practice positive self-talk because it will give you energy to work on more aspects of your life.

Also, try to stop the habit of worrying in general because no matter how beautiful you are, we're all prone to worrying and self-doubt. One way to do this is to start reframing your worries into goals. For example, the statement "I will focus on learning, and the grades will come." is one way to lower the energy you lose from worrying about decisions you make on assignments and exams. The statement refocuses your energy on understanding the content of the class, in turn lowering the mental energy you spend wondering if any small decision will prevent you from getting an A.

At least within the exam or class itself, you almost have to have the memory of a goldfish, never thinking about the past decisions you've made and focusing on what's right in front of you. Paradoxically, not giving a s*** about your decisions in an exam or on the job will often improve your performance because it leaves you more energy to solve pressing problems.

Tip #3: Plan Decision Review Time

Of course, none of us are self-confidence gurus who never worry about anything people say and are confident in everything they do. And even if we were, it wouldn't be ideal because you always have to strike a balance about caring about your performances on some level (enough to motivate you to work hard) while still never worrying about how things will turn out (saving that extra energy to focus on your performance).

One great way to strike this balance is to start planning decision reviews at the end of your work or exam time. So, instead of worrying during the whole week or whole exam whether you made that decision or got that true or false question right, you should plan out a time to review that decision and make adjustments. Because there's no real purpose in wondering whether a decision is right or how it will pan out unless you can analyze and change it.

In turn, scheduling out that review time gives your brain the space to forget about difficult decisions until you can revisit them with a fresher mind, a different perspective, and the time to analyze whether it was right or wrong, giving you more energy in the meantime to solve problems and limit other mistakes.

Anyway, that's all the ideas for the blog I had for today. I hope you enjoyed reading, learned something, or found some ideas I presented interesting enough to think about on your own time. If so, let me know! I'd love to expand on these ideas by discussing them with some of you.

Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

-Ethan