Ep. 90 Planning Tips to Reduce Decision Fatigue
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Planning Tips to Reduce Decision Fatigue
In Episode 85, we talked about Drama-Free Decision Making. In today’s episode we wanted to answer a listener follow-up question (thanks Rachel!) about how to handle all the daily decisions that lead to decision fatigue.
How do we plan our days to free up mental energy for more important things? Keep reading or listen in as we talk about:
What decision fatigue really is
How to value and protect your mental energy
3 questions to assess your level of decision fatigue
How to find out which decisions are draining your mental energy
5 tips to conserve mental energy by planning
The most important thing you can do to make progress with fewer decisions
What is decision fatigue?
Decision fatigue is “difficulty in making a good decision experienced as a result of the number of decisions one needs to make.” So the very fact that we need to make so many decisions in a day (some estimates say we make 35,000 decisions every day!) leads us to make worse decisions.
How can we protect our mental energy? How can we be more efficient with our planning so we can make FEWER decisions?
3 questions to assess your level of decision fatigue
Ask yourself these questions to see where decision fatigue might be taking its toll on your mental energy:
What decisions consistently stop your momentum throughout the day?
What decisions do you just really resent/avoid/dislike making?
Is there a certain time of day or week when decisions are harder?
5 tips to conserve mental energy by PLANNING
Now that you see where and when decision fatigue might be popping up in your days or weeks, let’s talk through a few tips on how you can be more efficient with decision-making and protect that limited mental energy.
#1: Notice how and when you work best & work WITH your personality
What time of day or week is best for you to make decisions? Is there a good time when you can batch all decisions of a certain type? I try to decide all our food for the week at one time on Monday mornings so I don’t have to decide three times every day!
Maybe you’re trying to plan your week on Monday mornings but that time would be better spent hunkering down and actually doing some of the items on your list. Could you plan Sunday night instead?
What if I’m not the planning type?
Work with your personality! Don’t try to change who you are. You might need to train yourself to plan in certain areas that are holding you back -- but ALSO leave space for the spontaneity that comes more naturally.
Do some self-inquiry and notice how you can work with your strengths rather than against them.
#2: Set general boundaries or systems for certain decisions
Maybe you always have the same type of food for dinner on certain days of the week. Or maybe you could limit your wardrobe to certain colors so you don’t have to think so hard about what to wear each day.
When we constrain the options or do the same thing every time, decisions become so much easier. What’s a decision you could make ONCE and reap the benefits of every day?
#3 Plan your day and week by making decisions ahead of time and at the right time
Don’t try to decide things when you’re tired, hungry, emotional, or rushed! Find a time to plan your day or week when things are calm and under control. I (Kristin) like to take a few minutes in my office after I put the kids to bed in the evenings to write out my plan for the next day.
#4 Simplify, reduce, prioritize, eliminate
Once you’ve planned your day or week, look at it objectively. Ask yourself if the plan is realistic or if there’s any way to simplify. Make the decisions right then about what you will actually do the next day.
It helps to involve God in these kinds of decisions, even though they might seem small. The more I involve God in the decisions I’m making about how I spend my time, the better I’m able to make those decisions. I feel more confident that I’m doing the right things and letting go of the things that don’t matter as much.
#5 Develop the skill of trusting yourself
This is the most important aspect of decision-making! Once you’ve decided how you’ll spend your time, you must train yourself to follow through on those decisions. Practice doing what you say you'll do -- even in small ways.
Anything that doesn’t get done on your plan is a problem. It indicates that you either:
Didn’t plan well or weren’t realistic about what you could do
You didn’t do what you said you’d do
If you don’t do what you say you’re going to do, it doesn’t matter how well you plan. The point of planning ahead of time is that when the time comes to do what you planned, it's not another decision to be made. You just do it!
So practice planning well AND following through well. Make your decisions and stick to them.
The more you trust yourself, the better you’ll be at making decisions in the first place and making progress on what matters most.
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