Most researchers agree that the average adult makes around 35,000 decisions each day. Researchers at Cornell University estimate that we make more than 221 decisions daily about food alone. The number of choices we make dramatically increases as we grow older and become responsible for taking care of children and family members. With these astounding numbers, it’s no wonder that a growing number of parents find themselves faced with decision fatigue.
What is decision fatigue?
The term decision fatigue was first established by Florida State University social psychologist Roy F. Baumeister. It describes the phenomenon that occurs when humans make poor decisions and show a lack of self-control following periods of needing to making good decisions and demonstrate good self-control. Essentially, the decision fatigue model suggests that after repeatedly having to make good choices, we, as humans, are less and less capable of continuing to make beneficial decisions. We have a limited number of good decisions before we’re bound to make a bad one.
How to identify decision fatigue?
While decision fatigue does not have standard diagnostic criteria listed in the DSM-5, Baumeister and colleagues frequently refer to these common symptoms:
- Avoidance and procrastination
- Indecision or inability to make choices
- Compliance or willingness to ‘go along with whatever’
- Impulsivity, especially when it comes to shopping and money decisions
- Lack of self-control, especially with food and eating.
Over time the impacts of decision fatigue can add up. Baumeister and fellow researchers have studies a wide range of challenges when our self-control wanes after repeated decision fatigue. It can be “linked to behavioral and impulse-control problems, including overeating, alcohol and drug abuse, crime and violence, overspending, sexually impulsive behavior, unwanted pregnancy, and smoking” (see The Strength Model of Self-Control.)
What to do about decision fatigue?
If what you’ve read about decision fatigue raises some red flags, thankfully, there are some simple tips and strategies that can help combat and avoid decision fatigue. Parents, in particular, can benefit from some of these tools, designed to target the key areas that may be deteriorating self-control.
10 Strategies For Parents to Combat and Avoid Decision Fatigue
1. Develop routines that reduce decisions
Time and time again, studies of high-performing individuals show that much of their success relates to successful routines. Not only do routines help create consistency for you and your family, but they can also reduce the total number of decisions that have to be made throughout the day. Design a morning routine that includes a balance of self-care activities like meditation, exercise, yoga, or spiritual practices and personal care activities like eating breakfast and preparing for the day. Design a bedtime routine that helps you wind down from the day, shutting off technology and preparing for the upcoming day.
Consistently complete these routine practices until they become habits. Habits require limited or no decision making. If it’s a habit, you can almost finish the activities in your routine on auto-pilot, saving the number of choices for the important ones you’ll face in other parts of the day.
To start the process of developing routines that reduce decision, download, and complete our Decision Making Audit Worksheet.
2. Delegate decisions to your family members
One of the easiest ways to reduce the total number of decisions you have to make during the day (and consequently avoid decision fatigue), is to delegate decisions that are non-essential for you to make to others in your family. Are you still deciding on your child’s clothes for the day? Can someone else in your family determine the menu, make transportation arrangements for your children, or organize the bathroom closet?
Spend one week evaluating the decisions you are responsible for in your family. Determine which of those decisions are imperative for you and you alone to make. Determine which choices you can share with family members. Then determine which decisions you can let go. Even reducing the number of decisions across the week by 10% can dramatically improve your risk of decision fatigue.
3. Make tougher decisions early in the day, and quit while you’re ahead
While some of the variables contributing to decision fatigue are still unknown, what we do know is that individuals tend to make better choices for themselves and others earlier in the day. If you’re evaluating a difficult decision or making a significant lifestyle choice, dedicate the time right after you wake up in the morning or early in the day. As decision fatigue models suggest, the closer we get to the end of the day, the closer we get to our threshold of the capacity to make good choices. Avoid making critical decisions and life choices late at night, or when you know you’re tired.
4. Evaluate shopping and meal preparation to reduce decisions
One area where parents can experience the most considerable reduction in decisions relates to shopping and meal preparation. Consider a trip to a supermarket for your weekly grocery shopping. During that time, we all encounter hundreds of different decisions. Choose between different brands. Evaluate the quality and quantity of produce and meat to add to your cart. Select between the sale price or the regular price product. Choose whether it’s worth it to try a new product we’ve never seen before. The same applies to trips to department stores or your local mall to shop for shoes or clothes.
If you’re looking to reduce the total number of decisions you need to make in the week, try to reduce the total number of choices related to shopping. Identify a preferred brand for each of the products you purchase and stick with it. Create a shopping list once and stick to that list, reducing the number of decisions to only items on the list. Better yet, use online shopping or grocery delivery services that bring your purchases to you, further reducing the extraneous choices you need to make.
5. Go minimalist
Related to evaluating shopping and meal planning decisions, one way to reduce decisions about buying is to commit to a minimalist lifestyle for your family. By definition, minimalists live only with the things they need. They attempt to reduce the amount and frequency of consumer purchases to only the bare essentials of food, housing, and experiences that enhance their happiness. A bi-product of the minimalist lifestyle is that it can protect against decision fatigue by reducing the number of consumer-related decisions that need to happen. Start by identifying one area where your family can adopt a minimalist lifestyle. Observe how many decisions could be reduced in that area and start saving those choices for more relevant and meaningful things.
6. Turn off alerts and notifications
Anyone with a smartphone knows how difficult it can be to stay focused when bombarded with a constant stream of ‘dings and rings.’ Alerts and notifications have become so prevalent in our culture because companies and businesses recognize how terrible the human brain is at diverted attention. If drawn to text messages, app alerts, and other notifications on our devices, we’re always having to decide what’s more important, our current activity, or the message waiting for us. Over time these micro-decisions can accumulate and weigh on our brain’s capacity for self-control and increase decision fatigue. Turn off alerts and notifications for your devices and your family’s devices to only receive essential messages.
7. Use others to help with the decision making process
If you find yourself struggling to make decisions or feeling the tell-tale signs of decision fatigue, step back, and involve others in the decision-making process. Ask others to help you work through challenging decisions. Make a habit of regularly checking in with your partner, a trusted friend, or a mental health professional who can help you evaluate if your choices are on track. If you stumble and find yourself making poor decisions, this person can also help you get back upright and moving forward again.
8. Practice mindfulness
We’ve all heard how parents can benefit from mindfulness and meditation, but can it help decision making also? In short, yes. Add avoiding decision fatigue to the many reasons to find some time for meditation or mindfulness practice. Studies have shown that individuals who regularly practice mindfulness meditation can regulate some of the emotional and social influences in decision making. Mindfulness can help individuals identify what decision fatigue feels like in their body, and to be mindful that a poor decision is coming. Having the chance to step back before a poor decision occurs can help build confidence in making better choices in the future.
9. Try a snack or a walk
If you find yourself approaching the point at which decision fatigue has already set in, two strategies might help push the ‘reset’ button. Try eating a small snack. Low glucose has been shown to change how we make decisions, often leading us to make poorer choices. If glucose levels are already low, then it can be especially tricky to make decisions involving our children and families or decisions about food.
It can also be helpful to take a brisk 10-minute walk. Physical activity has been shown to alter and improve how we make decisions. Regular physical activity helps us make better judgments and analysis of available information as well.
10. Know When Not To Trust Yourself
Even though the goal of the strategies above is to combat and avoid decision fatigue in the first place, at some point or another, we all have challenging days. Parents must spend time learning to recognize the symptoms of decision fatigue, including using tools like the Decision Making Audit Worksheet.
When you’ve reached the point at which you’re no longer likely to make good choices for you and your family, it’s time to allow someone else to step in and assist. Use some of the strategies above to make changes to your routine to allow more space for important decisions. Most importantly, be forgiving when decision fatigue occurs. It’s better that you know when not to trust yourself to make the right choice, then trying to persist through decision fatigue and make some choices you’ll regret later.
Seeking Professional Help
This article provides general advice about decision fatigue, but it should not take the place of consultation from a mental health professional with experience in addressing these areas. If you find the strategies above don’t seem to help, or you regularly struggle with decision fatigue, you may benefit from talking with a medical or psychology professional.
Recognizing Decision Fatigue in Others
Once you’ve learned about the signs and symptoms of decision fatigue, it can be easy to spot family members and friends who may also be struggling. In an upcoming article, we’ll examine decision fatigue in unique learners and give parents some insight on how to recognize and address it with their child. Find out more in our Part 2: Helping Your Child Overcome Decision Fatigue.
Further Reading
- American Psychological Association’s Monitor on Psychology: The power of self-control
- Does regular physical activity help us make better decisions?
- Interoception drives increased rational decision-making in meditators playing the ultimatum game
- Mindless Eating: The 200 Daily Food Decisions We Overlook
- The Strength Model of Self Control
- Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest human Strength by Roy F. Baumeister & John Tierney