Geared Up Issue 2 2015 | Page 35
4 Ways to Beat Decision Fatigue
Think about the consequences of our
decisions, and it’s clear this is something
we can’t afford to miss. Thankfully, there
are ways we can beat it before it beats us.
Here are four things that work for me.
Don’t think. Seriously. It’s not the
kind of decisions that drain us. It’s the
number, whether it’s a decision about
what to eat, where to go, when to leave,
how to get there, and so on.
I’ve written before about the power
of my morning and evening routines. The
truth is that any decisions we can routinize,
automate, or turn into habits can help us
conserve energy and stay sharp.
Get rest. It’s crucial to get the sleep
we need each night and even helpful to
nap during the work day.
It’s also helpful to look at how we
structure our days and weeks. When we
get bogged down with tiny tasks early in
the day, our productivity suffers. I try to
lump what busy work I can’t eliminate or
delegate into a couple of days each week
so I can use the remainder for rest and
focusing on big projects — the two most
important things for moving the needle in
my business.
Hit pause. Powering through the
weariness is sometimes necessary, but
do you really want to make calls that will
affect your month or year when you’re
depleted?
Right after an intense period on the
business, my daughter Megan and I were
working on our yearly budget. It was early
in the afternoon but we were starting to
make rash and impulsive decisions. Megan
raised a flag.“We’re just too tired to make
good decisions,”she said. And she was
right. We put the budget on hold and came
back to it later when we were recharged.
Eat well and exercise. Our time may
be fixed, but our energy is not. Since decision fatigue is just another form of fatigue,
we can also combat it by healthy eating
and working out.
Exercise used to be the last thing I
thought about. Now it’s one of the first.
Not only does it recharge my body, it also
allows my mind to shift out of decider
mode. It frees me up to randomly sort out
ideas, imagine, and dream.
One Decision We Don’t Have to Make
There are some very real tendencies
working against us. As high-achievers,
we’re prone to cram our schedules with a
number of decisions guaranteed to wear
us out. Add to that our tendency to think
we’re responsible for making every decision and pretty soon we’re played out and
don’t even realize it.
We can’t always pick optimal conditions, but we can be aware when situations are suboptimal and plan accordingly.
Letting decision fatigue beat us is one
decision we don’t have to make. G
©2013, Michael Hyatt. Used by permission.
Originally published at www.michaelhyatt.com.
Michael Hyatt is the author of the
New York Times bestseller, Platform:
Get Noticed in a Noisy World. It is
also a Wall Street Journal, USA Today
and Amazon bestseller. He is also the
former Chairman and CEO of Thomas
Nelson Publishers. He now writes,
speaks and coaches full time.
GearedUp | 2015 Issue 2
33