Are you suffering from this? I know I am, so it is time to do something about it!
Lately I have been feeling different. Not just physically tired, but lacking some mental and emotional capacity, which has made me moody, and is causing me to face my days with more ups and downs than I’d like to.
Over the last few months I’ve been investing long hours upgrading my business skills, creating a whole new brand of products and services – more of that to come – whilst trying to keep up with my normal work, the house and of course, my most important role, my two gorgeous children.
I can’t believe that it has been almost a year since my husband had to relocate to an island of Vietnam for work, leaving us behind in Bangkok, as his new location is still very under developed and lacks even the most basic facilities to make that location our home. So I have been running around, doing the best I can, soldiering on so to speak, adapting to our new family situation. This has taken a toll on all of us, and we are continually looking for ways to be able to reunite in the not so distant future. The life we chose to live as expats does not always come without its challenges!
So in the midst of all this, and owning up to my true nature, what do I do? I look for ways to do more, to push beyond my current limitations, to challenge myself to face towards the fear, and to charge ahead and do it anyway. I decided that it was time to either start an MBA, or do something similar that would allow me to take my business global. After much consideration, I decided to sign up for what I call a “practical MBA”. I signed up with a big team of mentors across all business functions to help me learn, grow, and stretch myself to help me manifest the visions that I have for my business in the next few years.
“Perfect timing, as always! – my husband said. Yup, I do have this annoying way of stirring things up just when I should be doing the complete opposite. But the way that I see it, it will never be the perfect time to do anything, and life will always get in the way, so you may as well start working on what you want to achieve, and somehow, life will always show you the way to get there.
So lately I have been feeling like time has been working against me. The days go by very quickly, I don’t have much time for breaks, always on the go. My favourite time of the day is when I finally hit the bed and am able to let go.
It is not wonder that I’ve been feeling a little off, lacking physical, mental and emotional capacities. But I have also noticed that my ability to make sound decisions is heading south. I’ve been observing my decision making process lately, and I can almost compare it to the times when I was pregnant with my children. No, I am not pregnant before you ask!
I did however get curious as to what may be causing the decline in my ability to make decisions as I would normally do, and I found it! It is a condition called Decision Fatigue.
In a nutshell, no matter how rational and honourable you try to be, you can’t make decision after decision without paying a biological price. This is different from physical fatigue, as you are not consciously aware of being tired, but you are low on mental energy. And so the more choices you make throughout your day, the harder each one becomes for your brain, until it eventually starts looking for shortcuts by either becoming reckless (acting on impulse without considering the consequences of your actions), or quite the opposite, doing nothing (aka the ultimate energy saver). Research about this newish condition has demonstrated that there is a finite store of mental energy for exerting self-control.
Did you know that the average amount of remotely conscious decisions and adult makes each day equals about 35,000? In contrast, children only make about 3,000 decisions per day.
Now I understand why highly-successful people like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg have famously eschewed this morning struggle by sticking to the same outfit every day. They weren’t trying to make fashion statements; rather, they made conscious efforts to minimize daily decision-making.
So if you find yourself taking longer than usual to make simple decisions, putting off at least some of the bigger decisions, and you notice an increase in your own impulsive behaviour, you may be suffering from decision fatigue.
But fear not, there are plenty of ways in which you can cope with decision fatigue. I want to share with you the top three that work best for me personally:
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Make the most important decisions earlier in the day. I find that if I leave the biggest decisions for later in the day, when I am feeling more tired and overwhelmed, I won’t have the same clarity and ability to make sharp decisions. So plan ahead, and identify the night before, or early the same day, what are the most critical decisions that you’ll need to make on that day, and allocate some time early on to make them.
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Back off from the chaos.There’s a reason why some of your best ideas and decisions are made when you’re in the shower or on a walk outside without distractions. When you pull away from demands of daily life, you free the prefrontal cortex, which is the “thinking” part of your brain responsible for logical thinking and using willpower to overcome impulses (crucial to fighting decision fatigue). By giving your brain a break, you allow it to make improved neural connections and ultimately better decisions. I personally love yoga, and sitting outside in my balcony looking at the sky, to give myself a break from it all.
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Create daily routines that minimise decision making. Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States said:“You’ll see I wear only grey or blue suits. I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.” The most successful people conserve their willpower by developing effective habits and routines to help reduce the amount of stress in their lives. I preplan all of my weekly meals on Sunday, do my weekly food shopping on Sundays and Wednesdays, and I set up the same time for exercising daily. Whenever I can, I schedule everything I need to do in advance and review it the night before and first thing that day. Regarding having to wear the same clothes every day… that may never happen!
If you follow the above steps, and make an effort to eat healthy food, drink lots of water, and give yourself permission to have some breaks, your brain will thank you!
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