Eliminate Decision Fatigue and Find More Time
Having to make non-stop decisions all day every day, no matter how small or insignificant they seem can really grind us down over time.
Think about how many decisions you have to make each day - from what to wear, what to eat, which video to watch on Netflix, when to go to bed, what time to wake up, how to fit in exercise, which exercise to do...the list just goes on and on.
And eventually what happens over time is we reach a point of 'decision fatigue', which can be characterised by things like low energy, procrastination, anxiety, lack of willpower, lack of action and eventually burn out.
The way to avoid and overcome decision fatigue is to reduce the number of decisions you make each day.
Think about it - by freeing up decisions you make around those simple tasks you do each day, you will leave room in your brain for much more important tasks and decisions that need to be made.
This allows you to be more creative and leaves space for you to think through bigger, more important decisions and problems.
Here are some of the ways that I reduce 'decision fatigue'.
1: I follow a daily routine
I talk about my daily routine quite a bit around here and I'm sure to some of you probably think my routine seems pretty boring!!
But the good thing is that I never have to think about what I'm doing at a big picture level each day or week. I know what I'm meant to be doing each hour - whether that's to do with my family, kids, work, exercise or leisure...it's all scheduled in and I just follow the plan each week.
As you can see from my calendar above, here’s an example of what my routine looks like at the moment:
4am - get up (every day, including weekends), meditate using the Calm app, make a cup of tea
4.30-5.30am - write my daily blog post (weekdays) or project work (weekends)
5.30-7.30am - exercise session (M, W, F, Sat) or continue deep work
7.30-8.30am - Daily Non-Negotiables
8.30-12.30 - varies each day, either exercise or project work
12,30-1.30pm - daily walk ( I walk 5.5km every day and always listen to an audiobook or podcast to learn something new)
1.30-3pm - shower, lunch, errands, spend time with my husband
Around 3pm my work day is pretty much done. This is when the boys are finished school and I generally spend the afternoon helping them with their activities or we do something together. Now my boys are older and pretty self-sufficient I’m often able to get a little bit more work done during this time as they have their own homework and activities to get on with.
We have dinner around 6.30
8.30pm - I go to bed at the same time as my youngest son (who is 10). I then read for a little while on my kindle (if I’m being good) or watch Netflix (if I’m not being good) and fall asleep by around 9 and get ready to do it all again the next day!
So that might sound really boring but I love what I do and get a lot of enjoyment out of my daily routine.
Plus I'm living a life that is created entirely around what I want to be doing each day.
As you can see from the schedule above there is a lot of self-care and downtime built into my daily routine.
For me, unhappiness in life comes when my diary is dictated by other people's priorities. As long as I get to set my own schedule around the things I want to be doing I'm very happy and content!
If you want to build a successful life you need to build it habit by habit and be consistent with those habits day after day.
I find that having a daily routine like this really cuts down on my decision making. I never question “if” I should go to training or “if” I should do my daily non-negotiables - they are part of my routine and I just get them done.
2: I set some decisions in stone
Some decisions I make each day are the same each time.
This is something I picked up from Steve Jobs, who always wore exactly the same outfit every single day to avoid having to make that decision each morning.
Although I personally prefer a little more variety in my wardrobe (!) there are some decisions I have set in stone that I never have to think about. These include:
I have the same lunch every day (a smoothie)
I have a meal plan all set out on a monthly rotation for our family dinners
I drink the same tea from the same cup every morning
I do the same exercise training sessions every day, week after week (I don't decide whether or not I will exercise - I just get up and go and have been doing this for over 4 years now)
I do a daily walk at pretty much the same time each day and always walk the exact same 5.5km route
I wake up at the same time every single day
I go to bed at the same time every night
I never drink alcohol (it’s not even a decision I ask myself)
The list goes on but you get the idea....the more you can simplify your life and have set decisions around less important things, the less stressed out you'll feel by how many decisions you have to make each day.
3: I have systems and checklists for things I do more than once
I try to avoid making repeatable decisions more than once.
An example of this is a checklist I have on my phone for when we go away on holidays. I created the checklist in my tasks app on my phone a few years back after I got sick of thinking through what to pack every time we went away. I thought through everything I needed ONCE (especially the important things we are likely to forget to take!) and now when we go away I reset the checklist and work through it to make sure I don't forget anything.
So think about applying this concept to all sorts of things in your life and business.
Where can you just do the thinking once, create it into a checklist, procedure or system and then use that every time you go through the process?
There's a reason that pilots have checklists for every single thing they have to do in their job.....we don't want to rely only on them remembering what they need to do in order to keep the plane up in the sky!
The brain just isn't a reliable source for day to day things we need to accomplish or remember so don't feel bad if you need to create a system or checklist to help you remember things.
In fact I find it massively reduces the number of things I need to decide and remember, which the leaves space in my brain for more creative and interesting thoughts, ideas and decisions that need to be made.
Thanks for reading and catch you in my next post!
Clare x
Dr Clare Le Roy
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