🥱 Decision Fatigue 101

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Hey there! Welcome back to The Flow by Flocus. If you’re new around here, welcome! 👋  You can catch up on our previous editions right here.

This week: We’ve touched on decision fatigue before, but today, we’re diving deeper to understand what it is, how it holds you back, and what you can do about it. Let’s jump in!

😪 What’s Decision Fatigue?

Decision fatigue is the exhaustion you feel simply from deciding what to do.

Every choice you make costs a little bit of brainpower.

Even for micro-decisions, you still have to figure out:

• 📋 What to do

• ⏰ When to do it

• 🚧 How to handle dependencies and roadblocks

For some choices, this process is so automatic that it’s unnoticeable.

For others, it’s an obvious mental drain.

So if you often feel tired for “no reason”? Or beat yourself up for being “lazy”? You’re probably overwhelmed from decision fatigue.

Before we jump into ways to tackle it, let’s address a few common challenges with decision fatigue first.

😮‍💨 Why It’s So Hard to Beat

The more energy you spend on tiny, minor choices, the less you have to spend on the meaningful decisions.

This seems obvious, but it doesn’t make decision fatigue any easier to overcome.

Several overlapping factors can make the problem worse, including:

• 🥞 Volume: We make a lot of decisions every day — dozens, if not hundreds.

• 🍱 Variety: Not all decisions are created equal. They range in size, complexity, and importance across all areas of life.

• 🫷Resistance: Your brain is always looking for shortcuts to save energy, which is why procrastinating is so easy. You might also have other reasons why you’re resisting a task.

• 🧠 Brain chemistry: People who are neurodiverse may have more trouble with decision fatigue, reaching a “shutdown” state faster than others.

How can you overcome these challenges and recover from decision fatigue? Scroll on to find out!

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Now, here’s how to reduce decision fatigue!

🌤️ 5 Ways to Reduce Decision Fatigue

Making fewer low-stakes decisions helps reduce stress and conserve willpower. Here’s how:

🌀 1. Identify common decision drains

We make a lot of the same choices every day.

Examples of typical decision drains include meals, outfits, routines, and tools.

Your drains might not be daily choices — they can also include less regular and even one-off decisions that you’ve struggled with in the past.

🚗 2. Set a “default”

Now that you’ve got your decision drains mapped out, list some default choices you can make for each one.

The goal here is to try and “decide once” to save your energy for what matters. This will help you make decisions on auto-pilot.

Here are some common examples:

• Meals: Eat the same breakfast Mon–Fri

• Outfits: Have a “uniform” for different occasions and events

• Routines: Have “fallback” routines for low-energy days

☕️ 3. Batch or pre-decide things weekly

One Sunday reset can save 100 tiny choices throughout the week.

Even if you’re not much of a planner, simply jotting down the things you’ve got coming up can clear enough mental space to make your week run smoother, which leads to our next tip.

✍️ 4. Write it all down

If you did steps 1 to 3 in your head, consider writing it all down somewhere in a physical or digital note.

This way, you have something to refer back to on those days when the decision fatigue is extra strong.

Relying on your brain to recall all those plans and strategies when you need them most will only make decision fatigue worse.

🙇 5. Don’t optimize everything

Sometimes, good enough really is good enough.

If something is already working well for you, or certain decisions don’t cause you fatigue, don’t try to “fix” them by optimizing further. You might cause yourself more harm than good!

🪅 Flocus Picks

A curated list of things worth sharing.

• The Hidden Cost of Too Many Choices (Video) — This 5-minute clip explores a different side of decision fatigue: the cost of making the “wrong” choice, and what makes some decisions harder than others

• lofi piano for deep focus (Playlist) — This soothing 4-hour playlist is the perfect background music for your days, whether you’re planning, doing, or recovering

• Understanding Decision Fatigue (Article) — This article from Healthline includes more info, examples, and tactics for overcoming decision fatigue

✨ Flocus: Your Personal Productivity Dashboard

Flocus helps you cut down decision fatigue every day. Plan your tasks with the reorderable list, or refresh your energy with soothing ambient soundscapes and worlds.

Flocus Plus members can now enjoy all-new features 🥳 Like custom theme uploads, task durations and ETAs, progress bars, and more!

Go to Flocus

Decision fatigue can be tricky to beat, but we hope you find some success with these tips and strategies.

What did you think about this newsletter? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

Until next Sunday,

Flocus Team