Decision Fatigue

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If you ever find yourself staring at the fridge, unable to choose what to eat. Or scrolling endlessly through Netflix, paralysed by too many options, then you may well have been experiencing decision fatigue. When our brains get overwhelmed by even the simplest choices.

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Episode Transcript

Richard (00:00):
Happy Friday everybody.
What are you up to this weekend?
Well, whatever you do, you mightneed a coat.
'cause the weather seems to beon the turn, doesn't it?
Lately I've not known whether toput on my shorts or a jumper.
I'm off out tonight with acouple of friends.
Do I wear a t-shirt for insideand a coat or just a long sleeve

(00:21):
shirt?
I dunno.
Depends how far we're gonna bewalking, maybe.
Depends on where we go.
We haven't really decidedanyway, which brings me to what
I want to talk about today.
Something we are always dealingwith and often without realising
it.
And it's called decisionfatigue.
That sort of fuzzy headed, Ican't even choose what to have

(00:45):
for tea feeling that you get insome evenings.
Now when this happens to you,you might think that you are
being lazy or indecisive, butit's far more likely that it's
just your brain saying, Mate,I'm done for the day.
'cause we make thousands ofdecisions from the moment we

(01:07):
wake up.
What to wear, what to eat, howto reply to that awkward text.
And each one saps a little bitof our mental energy, like a
phone battery that's running lowby bedtime, but it's not energy
in a calorific way.

(01:28):
It's a different sort offatigue.
Psychologists call this egodepletion.
The idea that every act ofself-control or choice wears
down our brain's resources alittle bit throughout the day.
It's why we are more likely tosnap at our partner in the
evening or skip the gym for thesofa even though we don't feel

(01:48):
physically that tired, and notbecause we're scared of hard
work or weak will or anything.
But because we've run out ofthat specific type of fuel that
motivates us.
And it isn't just with the bigthings, even choosing between
two brands of toothpaste ordeciding what to watch on the
telly can push us over the edge.
Our so-called clever old brainsdon't always know which

(02:11):
decisions are valuable to us.
These decisions just keepchipping away at our reserves.
There's a fascinating set ofstudies that really hammer this
home.
One involved free jam samples ina supermarket where people were
offered either six flavours tochoose from, or 24 flavours.

(02:36):
And the group with six options,they were 10 times more likely
to actually go on to buy somejam.
The group with the 24 were toooverwhelmed, paralysed by
choice, and pretty much ended upbuying none at all.
The same with a follow-up studyinvolving chocolate.
The more options they had meantthat the people enjoyed that

(02:59):
chocolate less.
It turns out too much choice canactually rob us of satisfaction,
which is strange, isn't it?
'cause if you ask anyone if theyprefer choice in the supermarket
or on a menu, people will sayyes, but it would mean that they
enjoy what they chose less.

(03:20):
It's called the paradox ofchoice.
And you'll see it everywherefrom what phone to buy to what
shirt to wear, to whether or notyou start that essay you've been
putting off or not.
And it can leave us not justexhausted, but disappointed too,
even when we do make a decision.
So what do we do about it?

(03:41):
Well, you don't need to startwearing the same clothes every
single day like Steve Jobs orBarack Obama.
That might help, but you canjust simplify your life in other
places.
Where you can still make a realdifference.
You can create routines, you canplan meals in advance.
You can do some big thinking inthe morning when your brain's a

(04:02):
little bit fresher and automatethe boring stuff like setting up
direct debits, using calendarreminders, things like that.
And maybe just maybe you have tostart saying no to a lot of the
things that drain you.
You don't have to be in chargeof choosing the restaurant every

(04:22):
time.
Hand the reins over.
Trust somebody else's judgment.
It's quite liberating.
But whatever you do, even ifit's nothing just yet, do
recognise that this is normal.
You are not broken, you're justbeing human.
So if you do find yourselfscrolling endlessly through TV

(04:44):
shows, feeling strangelyirritable by seven o'clock at
night, or buying a takeaway youdidn't even want, just pause and
ask yourself, is this tirednessor have I just had too many
decisions to make today?
If you'd like to hear more aboutthis along with some deeper
dives into the science and evenmore practical tips, do head on

(05:06):
over to Patreon for the fullepisode.
But for now, take care of thatbrilliant brain of yours.
It's doing the best it can, andI'll speak to you next week.
See ya.