In this post we will discuss what decision fatigue is and helpful ways to eliminate it.
What is Decision Fatigue
When you hear the word overwhelmed, what do you think of? Do you think of the mountain of laundry that needs to be folded? Or the overscheduled planner? Or so much to do, so little time?
Dictionary.com says, “Overwhelm most commonly means to cause to be overcome with emotion as a result of an amount of something (work, stress, etc.) that’s just too much to handle. (It can also mean to overpower or physically cover beneath a mass of something).” www.dictionary.com
Did you notice that… the amount of something causes the overwhelm? So if we could eliminate the amount, in this case, the amount of choices, we wouldn’t be so overwhelmed all of the time. We make so many decisions each day and this can cause decision fatigue, AKA overwhelmed with choices.
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How do we overcome it
Here is the easiest way to overcome decision fatigue – decide in advance and place limits.
In the Lazy Genius Way book, I love her idea of decide once. She uses the illustration of gifts. She chooses in advance what gifts she will give her children’s teachers. She doesn’t have to use precious time trying to think of the perfect gift. She already knows that she will give them a certain book that she loves.
In Grumpy Mom Takes a Holiday, Val Woerner suggests limiting shopping for clothing at only 3 stores. This helps eliminate the overwhelming options we have available today. Setting limits are good.
Here are several areas where we can eliminate decision fatigue that steals our time and distracts us from what matters:
1. Meal Planning –
I think this is the BIG one! How many times do we go to the fridge or pantry and just not know what to cook or what we want to eat …? Or when someone asks us where we want to eat, we have no idea and say “whatever you want.” These are often due to decision fatigue. We are overwhelmed with choices and it tires us.
By Meal Planning, you will not only help end the decision fatigue of deciding what to cook, but you will save so much time!
Here is a very simple way to start meal planning – make a list of 5-10 meals that you know your family likes and that you know you can cook. Rotate these throughout the month. Your family doesn’t need a new recipe every night of the week. Save your Pinterest recipes for once or twice a month. Don’t try a new recipe on a busy weeknight. Wait for those on the weekend when we typically have more time to spend. If the recipe is a hit, add it to your list of rotated meals.
Another easy idea is to theme each night of the week. Monday – Pasta, Tuesday – Tacos, Wednesday – Soup & Salad, Thursday – Burgers and you get the idea.
There are many more ways to make meal planning work for you. Batch cooking, meal prep, freezer meals, meal box subscriptions and meal rotations.
If you choose one area to work on to help eliminate decision fatigue, I think this one will help you the most.
2. Capsule Wardrobe
When I first heard this idea, I was like NO WAY! I am not wearing only black and white with only 20 pieces of clothing. But…. When I started really looking into what a capsule wardrobe was and that it wasn’t a one size fits all approach, I changed my mind a bit.
I think that after meal planning, many of us feel the decision fatigue the most when we are getting dressed. Most of the time it’s because we have too many clothes, clothes we don’t like and clothes that don’t fit. We spend so much time staring at out closet and then cleaning up all the clothes we’ve pulled out and tried on.
Here is one simple way to start this idea of a capsule wardrobe without getting rid of anything yet. Pick out 5-7 outfits that you love and place them front and center in your closet. You know the ones, the ones you feel good in that fit just right. Rotate these outfits and try new configurations. Pair a top with a different pair of pants then usual or add a jacket or sweater. These are your go-to’s for when you just don’t know what to wear.
Later you can start eliminating items that don’t fit and you don’t like and adding more elements of building a capsule wardrobe.
Remember, it’s about setting limits, in advance, so you don’t have too many choices to overwhelm you.
3. Online Shopping
I love Amazon and the fact that I look up nearly anything I want to buy, pay for it and have it shipped to my home in a couple of days. But there are so many options that I can spend way too much time looking for the “perfect” insert thing I need here.
Reading reviews is not a bad idea for something you are spending a lot of money on, but I have gotten sucked into a rabbit hole of reviews before on insignificant purchases. When you’re a perfectionist, you want to make sure that you get the very BEST even if you have to sacrifice your time to do it. But at some point, you have to stop searching and make the purchase.
One way to stop the madness is to limit yourself to a certain amount of time to search for something. You have 15 minutes to look for a birthday gift for your friend. Make sure you set very specific filters for whatever you are searching for to help narrow down the options. Make a rule that you won’t go past the first or second page of items.
If you don’t shop on Amazon, limit yourself to 2 or 3 stores that you shop from to avoid the unending searching. If the item isn’t there, you get something else.
4. Kids Activities
What do I do with my kid? How do I keep them entertained? Have you asked these questions? Sometimes we just don’t know what to do that will keep them busy for more than 5 minutes. We feel guilty for putting them in front of the TV and we scroll Pinterest looking for some activity that they will love and won’t be too messy and we have all the supplies for…. It can be so exhausting trying to come up with things to do every day.
That’s why we are going to come up with a list of 5 to 10 activities we know our kids love, are easy to put together and will keep them busy. In my Home Planner Binder, I have a list of indoor activities, outdoor activities and outings that I can pull from to make the day go by much better. I also use this list to plan out our weeks. For those days that I don’t have anything planned or plans cancel or bad weather, I can go to my binder to find a new activity and not use valuable energy trying to come up with something.
As you come across new ideas, add those to your list. We have several that you may want to try. And remember as your child grows, they won’t always like the same activities and will need more challenging things to do.
5. Routines & schedules
If you work outside of the home, this might not be a source of decision fatigue for you as you generally know what you need to work on, but for the stay at home mom or self employed, sometimes you are so overwhelmed that you just don’t know where to start. The floors need to be mopped, the toilets scrubbed, dinner needs to be prepped, laundry needs to be switched and folded, grocery order needs to be picked up, emails need to be sent… the list is so long, but what do you do first?
I had some serious decision fatigue when my daughter would take her nap. I had a mile long list of things I wanted to get done but as soon as I put her down, I froze because I was so overwhelmed. I might start a project that I couldn’t finish or avoid things I thought took too long.
Now I have a specific routine that I do during the week. I have tasks split up by day so that I can focus in on one thing at a time. I know that vacuuming and mopping my floors takes about 30 minutes so I can put that in during naptime on Mondays. I try to do one type of task each day. So on Tuesday and Wednesday, my tasks are only business related. Thursdays are my planning days. And Fridays are my catch up days on anything I didn’t get done the rest of the week.
Remember, this is graceful planning so it isn’t so rigid that we can’t change things around, but having a blueprint helps us know where to focus our energy and avoid the initial decision fatigue of figuring out what to do first.
6. Declutter
This sounds counterintuitive, but decluttering can help eliminate decision fatigue in the long run after the initial decisions are made about each item. (Minimalism)
You don’t have to look far to find the concept of Minimalism. Netflix, books, podcasts… there are so many ways to learn about it so I won’t go into too much detail here, but the general concept is about living simpler without things we don’t need. In other words – setting limits. There are fewer options with fewer items. If you find yourself having a hard time making decisions, consider limiting what choices you have.
7. Automation
Anything that you can automate, like paying bills, can help you save precious time. You don’t have to decide when to pay a bill, you’ve already set this up in advance. This gives you more brain power to think about other things.
8. Holidays
It is so easy to get overwhelmed during the holidays. To help eliminate some of that, you can decide in advance the traditions you will participate in, the decorations you will place and the gifts you will give. For example, take Christmas decorations. It is so easy to go overboard with decorating. In her book, Welcome Home, Myquillyn Smith suggests choosing only 3 areas of your home to make a big impact. Maybe for you that would be the mantle, the Christmas Tree and the dining table. And as mentioned above, in the book The Lazy Genius Way, she already knows what gifts she is giving.
You may have other areas that you could go ahead and make some decisions now and narrow down choices to make things easier. Even choosing just one area can greatly impact the decision fatigue we often face.
What one thing are you going to work on today to eliminate decision fatigue and take your time back?
Recommended books mentioned in post:
