Awarded the
“Rodinstar” Post
of the week!!
Do you know why Obama wears only Blue suits or Gray suits? That he does not Decide what to eat for lunch, his staff Decides it for him. It is because he has to make too many Decisions in a day & therefore cannot afford to waste his Energy Deciding on less important things such as what to wear or what to eat.
The phenomena of Weakening quality of decisions after a long session of Decision making is called “Decision Fatigue”. For Example, judges have been known to take poor Decisions later in the day. Studies show that a prisoner’s chance of getting bail in the afternoon decreases.
Being President, he has to make hundreds of Decisions a day that can have profound impact on Millions of people Globally. Being a Master Administrator, he conserves his energy. Entrepreneurs are like Presidents, they have to make too many decisions a day.
Forget Entrepreneurs for a second, just think how many decisions a Stay at Home Mom has to make in the morning…
What should I make for breakfast?
Should I go for a morning walk?
Who will drop the kids to school?
What to pack for the kids lunch?
Who will attend the parent teachers meeting?
etc etc etc…
Courtesy to our Web, which has a lot of information on this topic. The article on how the President overcomes Decision Fatigue first appeared on Vanity fair and NewYorker.
As an Entrepreneur, few things to consider:
1) Prioritize Decision Making – As the CEO or Manager, you cannot always Decide everything for everyone. Delegate work. Fcous on the Important things
2) Stop Shuffling Priorities – We tend to shuffle our priorities a lot. This may lead to Decision Fatigue
3) Mornings are Productive – Easier said than done, but try to make the most Important decisions earlier in the day
4) Exercise / Meditate – We are all busy beings. But take some time off for Exercise and Meditation. This will calm you and help you make better Decisions
5) Keep Everything Organized – Clutter can irritate you and drain your mind. Be it your car or your house, keep it organized and clean
So the next time someone at your home asks you what you need packed for lunch, just tell them sweetly they can DECIDE it for you!
Aneja
Aneja Raj
Thanks Asha for approving the post!
asha chaudhry
actually aneja – i’ve been meaning to comment on this but forgot to over the weekend – i really found this interesting and helpful.
DECISION FATIGUE is a concept we experience but don’t label it.
i totally agree with the exercise & clutter points. it really helps.
i’m not a morning person – but i do try to get a lot of things out of the way as soon as i switch my laptop on. i’m gonna keep all of this in mind and work on the decision fatigue part.
so thank you!
Tejas Vishnu Nimbargi
Some very good points..
Decision Fatigue is an appropriately coined word..
About mornings..
that explains why people in US work for fewer hours than us, but still are productive.
They start pretty early! 🙂
A good read Aneja!
Sai Rodinhood Pothuri
Good points to share, I am a morning person, prioritize the things and communicate with people mostly through email so that when they start the work, they can start with me and that’s how things will move..
The mentioned points are the basic points each and every entrepreneur should follow. organizing, prioritizing, keeping your self updated with information always helps you to make sure that things are moving with out delay..
Wish you all the best
Thanks
Sai Pothuri
http://www.beautona.com
Aneja Raj
That is so true Asha. I knew it was happening to me as well but never realized until I read about it.
Anamika Joshi
this is a gem of a post… so simple yet so effective points to share!!!!
Himanshu Mody
I experienced the beauty of not deciding what to wear and what to eat when I was at a Meditation resort for a month. We had to wear the same robe and eat the food based on menu decided by their Chef. Was such a huge relief 🙂 You gave a name to my everyday pattern. Now that I atleast have a name for it. Will be able to work on resolving it. Thanks for sharing.
Perzen Darukhanawalla
A great topic Aneja. I can totally see ‘Decision Fatigue’ increasing. A few examples – I love organising events at work and staying on top/making tasklists etc – however, when it comes to organising an event of my own I just cannot be bothered and it’s all too much (this sentiment was echoed by my entire team of event staff in NZ).
Another example is my husband who goes to do the buying for our Jewellery store. For about 2 months after he comes back, he hates going shopping (beyond the normal man’s hatred of shopping) because he knows I will ask for his opinion on things and he cannot decide.
Neerja Singh
Loved reading this Aneja. Honestly, this is the first time I’m hearing the term “Decision Fatigue” – makes a lot of sense.. A simple point made very interesting, many thanks!
Aneja Raj
Totally agree. I get a lot of requests too at work. I have started Delegating now, so I get to focus on the important things. Thanks for the feedback.
Abhash Kumar
Brilliant read Aneja!! I love automation and have quite an interest in Behavioral Psychology. Here’s my 2 cents
“
Think about the 100+ decisions that you will make today. What should I wear to work? Do I buy that latte? Should I take the stairs or the elevator? Subway or KFC? Yay!! The salary just got credited. Should I put this in that RD account? OR maybe buy a Galaxy S4 or HTC One? Wait, so many bills to pay?
Overwhelmed, are you? Most of us are. Heard of ego depletion or decision fatigue. I’m sure not. Both of these terms have such serious repercussions for our daily lives, that you’d rather want to know.
Psychologists have been long intrigued by willpower and they discovered that willpower is essentially in limited supply. In other words, there is only so much you can use in a day. So, the more number of decisions you make, the more willpower you use and the more ‘Ego Depletion‘ occurs. Once that storehouse of willpower is empty, you face ‘Decision Fatigue‘. Remember, last week, how you decided to start going to the gym and cook on your own after reaching home from office; but instead ended up ordering food and eating it up slouched on your couch in front of the TV: ‘Decision Fatigue’ You had drained up all your willpower in making the numerous decisions that you made throughout the day and you no longer had enough willpower to drag yourself to the gym or the kitchen. So, you took the easier way out. Notice, I did not say right or wrong; just the easier way. That’s another story that most of the easier-way-outs tend to be not on the ‘right side’.
So, how should you go about treating this problem? Answer: Automation
Habits trump willpower, by a margin, and then some more.
Create habits so that most of the processes are automated. You don’t take a decision every morning, on whether you want to brush your teeth, do you? Its a habit. Its automated. So, what if you could automate almost all of the things that you do throughout the day? You will have the reserve of willpower to use for the important decisions, the ones that matter.
Human beings are very similar, in that we try to rationalize whatever decisions we make- whether correct or incorrect. That’s what we commonly call ‘excuses’. But, at the base of it is the conscious part of our brain training the sub-conscious to react the same way every time. To break this the, sub-conscious needs to be tricked.
Triggers
Creating a habit is difficult. The basic rules are: One habit at a time. Start slowly. Increase gradually. And, most importantly create triggers.
What are these triggers? Say, you’ve realized that you’re not drinking enough water through the day. The simplest way to trigger the habit (trick your mind) is by placing a water-bottle within your hand’s reach. I’ve been amazed by the results I’ve achieved with this one simple hack.
Here are the many different things you can automate:
Do you get suckered into checking your mail all the time? Check your mail inboxes only at specified periods of time. I am guilty of this, big time. So, let me try to automate this process and I’ll get back to you with a post on this later.
You can automate your finances. I’ll tell you how to do this, with actual strategies and tricks, in the weeks to come.
You can automate your income and put it on ‘autopilot’ mode. I’m still in the newbie to beginner stage of this. But, I’ll try to keep you updated on this as well.
You can automate much of your office work. Guess what, much of it that people used to be employed for has already been automated, hasn’t it?
“
This is an excerpt of a blog post that I wrote on my blog Ace the System titled “
A is for Automation – Why rationality is not our strongest forte an…“
Tejas Vishnu Nimbargi
Hi Abhash,
As I was reading through this, I realized I am facing all these issues.
Ego Depletion and Decision fatigue are two commonplace things, but majority of us never gave it a thought.
Thanks for such an informative comment.
As you said, Automation to do things would certainly reduce the Decision fatigue.
Looking forward to your other posts.
Cheers!
Tejas
Aneja Raj
Great post Abhash!
On Automation, that is why business like to automate as many things as possible so they can free up time that they can use on more creative things, strategy etc vs. performing day to day tasks..
asha chaudhry
check the top of your post aneja!!!
🙂
Tejas Vishnu Nimbargi
Congrats Aneja!! Well Deserved!! 🙂
Aneja Raj
Thanks Asha. I am so excited to hear this news!
More than anything, I hope this post will help many many Rodinhooders take some stress off their work and personal life & be more productive.
Happy weekend to you and all Rodinhooders!
#gorodinhooders
Aah this reminds me, do we have an official hash tag for Twittter? If not we could use something like the above so anyone can search our content.
Aneja
asha chaudhry
:))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
you think of everything!!!
Kiran Kumar
Neatly capsuled by Aneja. For those interested in a deeper understanding of how our brain works in day-to-day situations and gain from that knowledge, I recommend Your Brain at Work by David Rock.
Aneja Raj
Thanks Kiran. Will check it out.
asha chaudhry
hey aneja,
mark z also follows the same principle to avoid #DecisionFatigue…!!
https://www.businessinsider.in/Heres-The-Real-Reason-Mark-Zuckerberg-Wears-The-Same-T-Shirt-Every-Day/articleshow/45064550.cms
Anoop Nair
Great post!
I always prefer working early in the morning on whatever project I am into. Wake up at 5-6 in the morning, wrap up all the important tasks for the day (blog writing, articles, research, coding, designing, customer analysis, etc), keep a record of all the findings and results that can be referred later in the day if needed. Spend 30-45 minutes daily for exercise. All these habits helped me stay clutter-free throughout the day.
Anoop Nair (Co-Founder | The South Indian Store)