5 Things to Help Reduce Decision Fatigue

Making daily decisions for yourself or your whole family can create a type of mental exhaustion like no other and you may or may not even realize that it’s the culprit. All the small decisions that may not seem like a big deal to make in the moment, may create a major mental load for you by the end of the day. Continuing to make all these decisions daily can lead to burnout. So, how do you help reduce decision fatigue when you have to be the one calling the shots on all the questions that come from the day?

Set up tools and make systems that work for you. Now, this will require discipline, but doing so will help you in the long run. Put the tough work in now and see where you are in 6 months, it just might be a night-and-day difference. Here are 5 tools and systems that you can create so that you do not have to think about what you need to do to answer the questions coming your way.

Tools and Systems to Create to Help with Decision-Making and Reduce Decision Fatigue:

Evaluate the severity of the question

Ask yourself “Will this decision affect tomorrow?” Things like picking out an outfit to wear for the day, will not affect you the next day. Do not use your time and energy focusing too much on these tasks. Questions like these are great to have a system set up to answer the questions for you.

Things that do affect tomorrow or the future are what you should put your efforts towards. These questions look different for everyone. Typically, they are questions that only get asked once or very few times. They are not the daily questions you need to be consistently answering.

You may find that often the things stressing you out or consuming your mind are things that do not matter tomorrow. Putting that into perspective often can elevate those stressors.

If you can put effort into it once to help you in the long run, do it

It’s hard to put up with something continuously when you want it to be better. Oftentimes you can elevate the constant stress or energy used by putting in a little extra work into the task once to make it easier for the future. Life can be so much more enjoyable with a little bit of effort put into a task now to make your future self have it easier.

You can create systems for many things in your life. This can play out in many different ways and can be at different levels of strictness. So, take some time to figure out what works for you. Create a routine and do it, you won’t have to think about what’s next which helps reduce decision fatigue. This will take self-control and discipline. It won’t always be fun, but taking the mental load off of these tasks will help them to become less draining.

Here are a few things you can create a system or routine for to reduce decision fatigue:

Meals– if you are always having to come up with what’s for each meal you can set up a system to answer this question easier.

Ideas

• Choose a day to plan out what you’re eating for the week. This also helps you grocery shop! Setting a time to figure it out all at once will make it so you don’t have to keep deciding throughout the week.

• Set themes for each day. Ex: Pasta Monday, Taco Tuesday, Chicken Wednesday, Comfort Thursday, Easy Friday. This way you have an idea of what you’re making each day and it reduces the options to choose from.

• Have a list of meals you make and cycle through them. If you know what your family likes, write all the meals out and go down the list. This will take the thought process out completely. When it’s time to grocery shop, just look at the next 5 or however many meals you like to make in a week and shop for them.
• Have leftovers for lunches. This way you won’t have to think about or plan for what you are having for lunches.
• Have the same things for lunch all week. If leftovers from dinner aren’t your thing, plan for the same meal all week for lunch. You can meal prep at the beginning of the week and then lunch becomes a grab-and-go.

Outfits- taking the thought out of getting dressed keeps the morning simpler and less hectic

Ideas

• Wear the same type of clothing each day. You can do this to whatever degree you’d like to. Many people chose to implement this practice to reduce decision fatigue. If you want to take it to the extreme you can wear the exact same thing each day(please get multiples of the item). Another idea is wearing the same color for the top and the same color for the bottoms each day. If you want it more relaxed you could wear the same type of clothing each day. Like a graphic tee and jeans or button-up and slacks.
• Pick it out the night before. If you like to do things at night to set yourself up for success the next morning this is a great option. Pick your outfit out and set it out for the morning.
• Make a wardrobe that goes well with everything. Having clothes that go well with the rest of your closet is such a game-changer. You won’t have to worry about finding something that goes well with the top you picked out when you know all the pants you own will go well with it.

Cleaning- we all have to do it, but the overwhelm of everything that needs done and not knowing where to start or how to keep up with it is real.

Ideas

• Make a schedule and make a system on how to do each task. This can be as strict as you’d like it to be, but setting expectations is helpful. This makes it so you always know what you should be doing and not having to decide what you are supposed to be doing.
• Make non-negotiables on maintenance cleaning every day. Example: Must load one load of dishes, sweep up the kitchen, and clean kitchen counters. Make a list of your non-negotiables that make sense for your home.
• Clean as you go. Keeping your home manageable by cleaning up the messes as you make them will help some of your cleaning tasks just happen naturally. Instead of feeling like most of your time cleaning is just spent on picking up.
• Make set days for specific cleaning tasks. This helps keep tasks more manageable by having 1 or 2 tasks a day, you can focus on those only.

Groceries- keeping this recurring task simple and nonstressful will be a breath of fresh air

Ideas

• Make a list of things you always want to have in your home and how many of said items. This is a good way to know exactly what you always need and have an inventory of the items. You will no longer need to think about which items you want on hand when you have it written down. When it’s time to shop go through and count how many of each item you need to replace. Make sure to use the oldest things first.
• Write out what you need special for the meals that week. If one of the meals you are going to make requires an ingredient that is not normally stocked in your home make sure to add it to your list.
• Do the prep work before going. Make a solid list before going, do not just go and see what you want to grab once you’re there. This will lower your costs and make for a more efficient trip to the store making sure you get everything you need.
• See what snacks are being eaten quickly or not so much. Being observant of what your household is currently eating will help you decide what you need to buy for the house. This also helps cut back on waste.

If you need help cutting down on grocery costs click here to get 3 tips for shopping on a budget.

Chores- setting a routine and system for the household chores will help keep the home manageable without needing to think of what all needs to be done

Ideas

• Create lists of chores on how to complete the chore. Knowing what chores need to be done in the home will help you not have to think about what needs to be done constantly. Knowing how you want them done will help make them run smoother.
• Make set days for specific chores. Setting a schedule for chores like cleaning will help you complete everything in a way that does not overwhelm you. You will no longer need to decide what you or others need to be doing.
• Make a list of non-negotiables for the day. Examples: complete one load of laundry, pick up the living room each night, and take the trash out. Make a list of non-negotiables that make sense for you and your home.

Don’t control things you don’t need to

Don’t try to control everything, how the day goes, or what others get done. Stress less, control yourself, your emotions, and the things you get done. Everything else isn’t your burden.

Things that are other people’s responsibilities are not yours, you do not need to keep track of everything for everyone. Removing things off of your plate is a great way to reduce decision fatigue. If this is a problem for you and your house, have a conversation.

Talk about how you are going to take those reminders off of your plate and see what you guys can do to help the others in the house keep up with their own responsibilities. Like, they start taking the responsibility of remembering to keep up with their household tasks. Or, make a list that they can check the boxes off once complete, set reminders on their phone, etc. Find a way that works for them so you no longer have to carry the mental load of their responsibilities.

We all need help, maybe they just need some extra help for them to be able to manage their responsibilities.

Just like they might need help, you do too. Involve someone or ask for help when needed. You do not need to do or decide everything alone.

Downsize or pick a theme

Downsizing what you have is such a good way to reduce decision fatigue! Too many options to wear? Downsize. Don’t know what cleaner you should use?

Get rid of all the extras and keep what you use. Make your home and life simpler. You will have fewer things to maintain and fewer decisions to make when you don’t have a multitude of the same category.

If you want help decluttering your home successfully, click here to learn the 5 questions you should be asking yourself.

Now It’s Your Turn! Take The Steps to Reduce Decision Fatigue in Your Life

Go make the systems and routines, put them into practice, and see what happens. Use the tools to help guide your decision-making. Don’t stress about the things that don’t affect tomorrow.

Just a little reminder, you’re doing great:)