You open your closet and stare, bewildered, into a sea of clothes. What to wear today? It\u2019s the first small decision of many that will leave you feeling overwhelmed and drained. If this sounds familiar, you may be suffering from decision fatigue, a psychological phenomenon that describes the reduced ability to make judgments due to an overexposure of decision-making.<\/p>\n
A recent American Psychological Association study found that, since the pandemic, decision fatigue is on the rise. On the back of a complex and mentally draining few years, people are feeling weary in the face of normal, day-to-day decisions.<\/p>\n
Mia, a managing director at Flipswitch Media, has a staff of four and is well-versed in multitasking, but during the pandemic, she says she felt her ability to focus deteriorate. The combination of overwhelm and uncertainty, she says, diminished her capacity for judgement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a big meeting this week and instead of thinking about what I was going to say, I had no idea what I was going to wear,\u201d she says. \u201cOf all the things to be worried about! I spent the weekend asking my partner, \u2018Should I wear these pants?\u2019 \u2018Do I usually wear a shirt?\u2019 \u2018How long does it take me to get makeup on?\u2019\u201d Mia found her decision crisis extended to home life, too. \u201cEven decisions such as food shopping make me completely freak out,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Mia learned she wasn\u2019t the only one dealing with decision fatigue; \u201cI\u2019ve got a few friends who are business owners and similarly feeling really overwhelmed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Adrian Allen, a clinical psychologist at the Healthy Mind Clinic in Sydney, says decision fatigue is a real concern. \u201cDecision fatigue falls under the umbrella of cognitive psychology and understanding the way we approach thinking and decision making in general,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more decisions we make through the day, the more fatigued we get, and the more the quality of decision-making can degrade as the day wears on,\u201d says Dr Adrian. \u201cIt becomes a lot of effort. People feel foggy, as though they need a break. We sense that we need to put in more effort than we\u2019ve got the resources for at that moment.\u2019<\/p>\n
Rebecca runs a construction company with her husband in Gippsland, Victoria and noticed she was developing decision fatigue in the third year of the pandemic. \u201cI struggle to make decisions about what to put on our meal plan, what to eat if we get takeaway, where to go on holiday, what to wear if I go out \u2014 almost everything,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m certain I frustrate everyone at home and I certainly frustrate myself \u2014 sometimes to the point of tears. I have no doubt my husband is tired of hearing
\n\u2018I don\u2019t know.\u2019 I feel like I\u2019ve lost my sense of purpose and have such brain fog that I can\u2019t give anything enough thought.\u201d<\/p>\n
It can be difficult to differentiate between decision fatigue and anxiety. Both can leave you feeling overwhelmed, drained and frozen in the face of decisions. Exposure to long-term stress and anxiety can lead to decision fatigue, and equally, the fear of making the wrong decision can lead to bouts of anxiety and anxious thinking.<\/p>\n
Rebecca was already dealing with anxiety and depression before she felt the decision fatigue creep in. \u201cIt was bad for a while there, before I spoke up to my psychologist, she says. \u201cI was living with such indecision that I was missing out on things. I didn\u2019t have a 40th birthday party because I couldn\u2019t decide what to do, who to invite or when to have it. My 11-year-old son, Harry, planned our entire trip away last school holidays because I couldn\u2019t decide where to go, what to do or how
\nto go about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Adrian works with these issues every day in his practice. \u201cI work with people experiencing difficulties with anxiety, depression, difficulties after trauma, personality concerns, and generally improving how people feel,\u201d he says. \u201cAnxiety is one of those things that can impose on cognitive load.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Adrian describes cognitive load as being like a tank that can easily become overfilled when we ask the brain to juggle too many different things. \u201cThings that can overflow our tank are needing to make lots of decisions, being under stress, multitasking or just feeling unwell. As that happens, we need to expend more effort to approach the same kind of efficiency required when we\u2019re under less load,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
There are some tools that can help ease decision fatigue and keep your tank from overflowing. Dr Adrian suggests keeping to a routine each day, so there are fewer decisions to make. He also suggests seeing a psychologist. \u201cIf you are finding decision fatigue troubling, consulting a psychologist can be helpful to learn practical ways to handle it,\u2019 he says. It can also be helpful to set aside time to plan your week ahead. Sunday evenings, when the house is often quiet, is a great time to sit down and plan out meals, shopping, meeting times and so on.<\/p>\n
Mia talked to her psychologist about decision fatigue and learned helpful signs to watch out for, such as becoming stressed. \u201cWhen your brain is going through stress, it creates new neural pathways and becomes easily overwhelmed, which is where decision fatigue comes in,\u201d she says. Mia says reducing her stress levels has allowed the brain to turn off and go into autopilot, and therefore reduce her decision fatigue.<\/p>\n