DECISION FATIGUE
The ability to think to make choices and trade-offs, and therefore decisions, is what makes us human. Everyday we need to take thousands of decisions to function effectively. Some of these may well be small decisions take we take in a fraction of a second with short term or miniscule consequences, while others maybe big decisions with long term consequences on our lives for years to come. The quality of these decisions and their compounding effect has a direct bearing on the quality of our lives and the success we achieve (or not).
There have been studies that estimate an average adult takes around 35,000 decisions in a day while a child takes 3,000 decisions every day (Sahakian & Labuzetta, 2013). On first look these numbers may seem as an exaggeration, but studies have shown that it is not. For instance, there was a study done by Cornell University in 2007 that suggested we make over 226 decisions related to our food choices alone in a day. These decisions could look something like this - what time should I have my breakfast today, should I have hot tea or ice tea or milk with it, should I have another cup of tea after the first one, what do I eat for breakfast - should it be bread with eggs, what kind of eggs - boiled/ scrambled or otherwise. Now compound these decisions many times over about every small act we need to take from getting dressed in the morning, to the time we would leave for (or now start with remote) work, what competing work items should I start my work day with, should I check emails, now that I have checked emails which emails should I reply to now, should I call my wife now or can do that later etc. etc.
There are two aspects to understand about decision making. First, every time we make a decision it does require energy. Second, every compounding decision uses willpower or mental bandwidth. Have you noticed when we are hungry or tired, we often end up making bad choices or end up flaring up at our family/ friends/ colleagues. There was an interesting study done over 10 months in Israel in 2011 that found the odds of a prisoner being found suitable for parole seem to be affected by the interval between the hearing and the time the board members last ate, with the odds decreasing dramatically as the length of that interval increases. Prisoners who appeared early in the morning received parole about 70% of the time, while those who appeared late in the day were paroled less than 10% of the time.
Decision fatigue then refers to the our gradually declining ability to of make rational and thought through decisions based on the mental fatigue/ overload caused by the previous decisions we have had to make during the day. Decision fatigue can explain how some of us, or at least I, am able to maintain self control on eating a healthy diet through the day only to mess it up with binge snacking in the evening (or days when I am dealing with stressful situations). OR, for that matter, binge shopping for clothes online and for junk food at the supermarket OR buying the additional frills from the car dealer while we are tired of waiting for the car delivery at the store (or after servicing). Psychologists through a series of experiments, as detailed in an article published by the New York Times, have learned that when confronted with complex decisions and low levels of mental reserves, we default to one of the three suboptimal decisions paradigms -
Defer to decisions that enable us to maintain the status you and/or keep more options open for the future. In the parole example, this may equate to the judge deferring the parole judgement to later rather than letting a possible criminal roam freely.
Decisions using simplistic unidimensional criteria vs a more complex set of criteria. E.g. tired shoppers are more likely to view choose quality or price as a singular decision criteria.
Give into the the temptation of immediate gratification. E.g. binge eating in the evening having maintained our diet during the day.
The good news though is, that as our energy and will power resurrect at the start of the next day (or once we have rested), we are re-quipped to start taking more rational decisions again. More importantly recognizing it and building our routines around it can be a game changer to better managing our professional lives. I feel a PAPER approach, detailed below, can help us hack through and counterbalance the decision fatigue.
(P) Prioritize - We have limited mental energy each day with competing demands on our time. It is key to prioritize the most difficult & complex decisions to when our mental reserves are at their peak.
For instance, many professionals including Jeff Bezos, keep the most difficult tasks to be attended at the start of each day to ensure they are fresh and on top of their game, with the more of the mundane administrative work for the latter half. Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, was quoted saying “I like to do my high-I.Q. meetings before lunch. Like, anything that’s going to be really mentally challenging, that’s a 10:00 meeting. Because by 5 p.m., I’m like I can’t think about that today, let’s try this again tomorrow at 10 a.m.”
(A) Automate - This equally applies to automating life choices ranging from investment decisions to making daily wear choices.
It is a known fact that many super achievers, from Steve Jobs (black polo short and jeans) to Mark Zuckerberg (grey shirts and jeans), wear clothes of the same pattern (thankfully not the same clothing as they would horribly smell otherwise!) on a daily basis to ensure the do not need to spend their mental reserves first thing in the morning thinking through these mundane choices.
Equally, people who sign-up for systematic investment plans (SIPs) are much more likely to continue their investments than those who leave to to a choice/ decision every month.
There is documented benefits of increasing savings rate and retirement preparedness if employers auto enroll their employees into the higher tier of retirement 401K contributions (with an option to reduce the contribution or delist) vs. making it voluntary for employees to sign-up.
(P) Plan - Planning is important in that it can help us take bulk of the decisions when we have the right mental bandwidth, and free up our mental energies on a day to day basis. For instance, planning what you would like to wear for the week, or making a shopping list so as not to get tempted by what we see at the super market, or doing meal prep for breakfast for the week ahead can help be more disciplined in our decision making.
On the professional side, arranging our calendars to accept and reject meetings we want to attend for the week ahead can help us be a lot more productive and improve the quality of our decisions in the week ahead. Another example here could be determining predefined times during the day when we will check/ answer our office email vs. doin it through out the day (and thereby causing breaks and distractions).
(E) Eliminate - Not all decisions we make are often needed of us. Many are often a factor of lack of clear guardrails and responsibilities between people, and the feeling of being in control. There could be merit in eliminating some decisions (on our plate) at the workplace through clearly defined roles and responsibilities between teams, and delegation.
In a peer setting, decisions to be taken and responsibilities for a project/ team can be divided to ensure not everyone is involved in every decision. Often, in decisions by committee, we end up getting the teams together for every small decision even when the accountability should be with one. There is fine balance to be achieved on what should be jointly addressed and what needs to be individually decided. The same concept applies if you are lucky to have a team. Consciously delegate at least a part of the safe decisions you are required to make to those in your team.
(R) Routinize - Science suggests that when we are leaning anything new, it is hard work as the neurons in are brain form new connections. The more we repeat an activity the stronger these connections get, culminating finally in things becoming second nature or reflex for us. When this state is achieved a habit or action stops occupying the mental processing power of the mind, and can be done in autopilot. As an example, instead of everyday deciding what time to meditate if we make it second nature and practice doing so right after brushing and before your first cup of team, it will become an autopilot habit in a few weeks.
Enabling some actions and decisions into a routine and autopilot mode can therefore be another way of reducing the load on our brains, freeing up mind space and will power for other decisions.
Enabling some actions and decisions into a routine and autopilot mode can therefore be another way of reducing the load on our brains, freeing up mind space and will power for other decisions.
Being mindful and following these steps can improve the quality of our decisions, which in turn improves the quality of our lives. Lastly, in the professional setting, it is important to recognize decision fatigue in others around us, especially what people in positions of power maybe feeling. Doing so, and making small adjustments in how & when we reach out to them with our requests (where they need to make a decision) can make a difference in influencing the results we may achieve from these conversations!
Footnotes
Dr. Joel Hoomans, 35,000 Decisions: The Great Choices of Strategic Leaders, (March 20, 2015), Roberts Wesleyan College
John Tierney, Do You Suffer from Decision Fatigue, (April 17, 2011), The New York Times Magazine
Shai Denziger, Israeli Study Shows Parole Decisions May be Affected by Whether Board Members are Hungry, (Feb 15, 2011), Prison Legal News
