The Drain of Daily Decisions

How often are you making the same decisions over and over?

Deciding whether or not to:

Stop at Starbuck on the way to work.

Fold the laundry as soon as it's done.

Get up and work out or hit the snooze button.

Respond to email, Slack, etc. messages right away or only at certain times.

You're making decisions all day long, many of them on repeat day to day or throughout the day. Which results in decision fatigue and a drain on your energy.

To avoid spending time on the same topics again and again, you need to make the decision once and then have a plan to follow through.

So the drain of daily decisions doesn't take your focus from what you actually want to be spending time on.

First take a day or two for awareness. Pay attention to what pulls your focus or what decisions you keep revisiting or changing.

Make a list of those things and then make firm decisions for each one. For example, decide you're only going to check messages first thing in the morning, mid-day and before you leave work.

Then once the decision is made, create a plan to follow through. Such as turning off notifications in between your designated times to check messages. 

And finally have a reminder or pep talk ready to go for when you feel the urge to redecide. It can be simple and straightforward like, "I've already decided when I'll check my messages." or "I'm not going to drain my energy focusing on something I've already decided."