Decision Fatigue

Hello dear readers. I have delayed posting the last week as I have been struggling to decide what to write about. 

In homage to young kiwi fictional hero, Ricky Baker, here is a haiku:

Decisions, decide

Can sometimes make us tired

So we choose dumb things.

Wikipedia says :

"In decision making and psychology, decision fatigue refers to the deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual after a long session of decision making. It is now understood as one of the causes of irrational trade-offs in decision making. For instance, judges in court have been shown to make less favorable decisions later in the day than early in the day.  Decision fatigue may also lead to consumers making poor choices with their purchases."

(This is why they put the chocolates and sweets right beside the checkout- we are tired of making choices in the supermarket so get a 'treat'.)

Notably, major politicians and businessmen such as Former US President Barack Obama, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg have been known to reduce their everyday clothing down to one or two outfits in order to limit the number of decisions they make in a day.

- I've been there.... Sometimes a classic black activewear ensemble is the easiest/most practical/can get away with without washing for 4 days choice.

Decision fatigue is why you sometimes get worried what to order on a menu when there are a whole bunch of choices, especially with ingredients you don't understand the names of. It also leads to reduced ability to make trade offs,

Decision avoidance (" Should I go to Kate's dog's birthday or Harry's party for his newly ripened avocado? I won't go to either") 

Impulse purchases ("I couldn't find any tops I liked to wear to work so I bought this BBQ instead") 

Impaired self regulation ("my brain is so tired from all these decisions at work, I can't decide what to have for dinner so I will eat this cake and put hummus on it because at least that is kind of healthy.")

Ahhh!

How do we make sure decision fatigue doesn't wear us down to making dumb choices? Or choices which do not serve us?

Well, it depends on the person.

Some people have no issue finding what to wear in the morning, but others spend the whole night before plotting, only to find in the morning magical gremlins have come inside their clothes and stitched little bits in them to make them sit incorrectly, and as a result sit around in their bathrobe lamenting not having anything to wear, begrudgingly choose an outfit they know always looks good but wore it 3 times last week.

Some people love variety for what they have for lunch everyday and can conjure up a great idea with a whimsical whip of the sandwich press.

Others um and ahh, baffled by deciding between spinach or salad mix, mayo or aoli, tuna or salmon, multigrain or rye, so have a tomato sauce and butter sandwich because they knew it was their favourite when they were a kid and they had it everyday for their 8th year of their life. 

You get the picture.

For me, I have been extra prepared these past three weeks with a Sunday night epic meal prep sesh- taking the decision time out of the week day meals and fortunately I basically wear a uniform to work anyways.

I read in a really reliable source (I think it was cosmo) that having a 'personal uniform' means you take ditch decision fatigue by having a certain set of sweet suits- a framework that you can freestyle in. 

I read in another trusty source (I was probably men's health) that eating the same thing for breakfast everyday (provided it is healthy and not bacon wrapped waffles) is more likely to lead to maintaining stable weight. Boom.

And so I have solved my decision about deciding what to write by writing about deciding.

How's that for a nicely tied up ending!

..... quite average actually, so I shall finish with another haiku.

Thanks for reading this

decisions don't rule your day

cool stuff can, yeah man.

Jj