It is not long ago that the news came that Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, does not make any major decisions after 5pm. This is because he feels he is not lucid enough to make informed choices.
At first glance it may seem like an eccentric choice of a public figure to be dismissed to costume journalism. However, the reasons may be deeper than you think.
How many times, at the end of a day, do we find ourselves tired and exhausted unable to make clear decisions ? How many more are we tried by hours of work without having done any physical activity?
This experience, as common, has caught the attention of scholars since the 90’s and took on the name ” from decision fatigue ” ( decision fatigue ).
It describes the situation in which one’s ability to make choices and to maintain control of one’s behavior is undermined due to repeated decision-making during the day (Pignatiello et al., 2018).
This state is also commonly referred to as “mental fatigue” and, however, the two terms are not exactly the same. Mental fatigue is defined as the difficulty of using cognitive processes such as reasoning, while in the state of decision fatigue not only does it become difficult to reflect, but it is also difficult to regulate one’s internal states such as emotions.
Why does making decisions involve fatigue?
According to Baumeister and colleagues (1998) the basic assumption is that the ability of human beings to control their own behavior is not unlimited. It can run out of steam.
Similarly to physical fatigue after an effort, each choice that the person makes consumes a part of internal resources that can no longer be used to process information, reason about problems and, therefore, make decisions.
As he makes choices, the person consumes the resources he has available daily, eventually running out of them. In this sense, therefore, the fatigue deriving from making decisions assumes the role of an indicator that internal resources are running out.
What are the symptoms?
In general, one of the most obvious consequences of decision fatigue is that the person becomes unable to compromise and think about the options available. He assumes a passive attitude towards any new situation in which he has to decide, making choices that may appear impulsive or irrational (Baumeister and Tierney, 2012).
The person with decision fatigue may exhibit the following symptoms:
- Engage in avoidance behaviors such as procrastination or passivity during decision making, which paradoxically can lead to the decision not to decide.
- It tends to choose automatically without carefully evaluating the available options.
- Has impulsive or explosive reactions, as in a state of decision fatigue emotions are perceived more intensely. In other words, in the person’s eyes what would be a simple nuisance can turn into a real problem.
- Has concentration difficulties that prevent you from concentrating on one task or listening to others.
- Worsens in performance in completing tasks, especially of an intellectual nature.
- Use more fast and general (heuristics) rules to solve problems. Not going into the merits of the situation, however, these can lead to distorted choices and unwanted results.
- He has less tolerance to situations of physical resistance such as standing or maintaining a correct sitting posture.
- It is more difficult to define what result you want to get from a choice.
- He has the perception of not being able to complete the decision-making process and the feeling of being trapped.
- He shows a marked increase in indecision with frequent second thoughts about the decisions already made.
What consumes mental resources?
Having made decisions
As mentioned, having to make decisions during the day is one of the main causes of decision fatigue . This aspect is particularly important, as its effects have been shown in a number of occupations that require maximum levels of concentration such as the doctor (Linder et al., 2014), the judge (Danzinger et al., 2011) and the controller. of flight (Orasanu et al., 2012).
Maintain self-control
The literature agrees that the more a person has had to control and regulate their behavior, the more likely they are to experience decision fatigue. Examples are having had to maintain attention on a certain task for a long time (Gilbert et al., 1988) or having had to modulate one’s emotions and thoughts (Muraven et al., 1998).
The reason is that maintaining self-control and making decisions consume the same internal resources, leading to run out of them faster.
Hour of the day
While not directly related to decision fatigue, the time of day has been shown to influence decision fatigue levels . For example, Kouchaki and Smith (2014) found that as the day progresses, people always become unable to resist temptation and can induce unethical behaviors such as lying.
Physical fatigue
Sleep deprivation appears to increase the likelihood of having difficulty making decisions . As reported by Harrison and Horne (2000), sleep-deprived people think less flexibly, lose creativity, have difficulty concentrating or are caught up in superfluous details of the situation. They place too much faith in known strategies and report memory problems. These elements are, not surprisingly, key aspects of the decision-making process.
What to do to limit decision fatigue
Although fatigue due to repeated choices is a natural phenomenon, it is also true that today we are exposed to a number of situations in which a choice is required much more than in the past. Just think of the offer of food products, the number of times we have to choose whether to reply to messages and e-mails, the amount of information we receive and on which we have to choose whether to devote our attention.
Below are a number of strategies to help manage internal resources and mitigate the effects of decision fatigue .
- Reserve the most important decisions in the morning. In fact, mental resources are greater during the first waking hours and allow a better ability to decide.
- Order decisions in terms of priority. Define the choices to make based on personal importance and the impact they could have on life. The most important choices are the ones we care about most and the ones that could have long-term consequences. To them it is necessary to dedicate time, for all the others it is useful to choose the simpler option so as not to consume too many mental resources.
- Vary your diet and ensure the brain the right amount of sugar. Many studies (Gailliot et al., 2007) have shown that a lack of blood sugar increases the likelihood of being impulsive and to the detriment of cognitive abilities.
- Maintain a balanced perspective on results. Avoiding perfectionism is essential to be able to make decisions quickly as if you seek perfection it is likely that you will end up increasing the sense of frustration.
- Create routines that ease the amount of decisions you have to make in a day. For example, setting days for important commitments (gym, friends, hobbies) and sticking to those routines.
- Whenever possible, try to reduce your options to just two alternatives.
In conclusion, decision fatigue is a common phenomenon underlying many impulsive behaviors and unweighted decisions. However, once known and managed, it allows you to optimize your resources by promoting the person’s daily well-being.
