Is it just me or does it seem like everything in our lives and businesses just gets more and more complicated?
Picking our Internet provider, figuring out the latest social media platform, navigating the endless opt-ins shoved in our faces, or understanding what’s healthy and what’s not in between a sea of different opinions.
We’re constantly bombarded with choices and decisions to make.
You might be falling into decision fatigue without even realizing it.
All of these things not only use up our time, but they also use up our mental energy. And when we use up too much mental energy, we deplete our mental resources. When we deplete our mental resources, we either make poor decisions or avoid making decisions all together. (And that’s not so good for our lives or our businesses!)
So, the question becomes how can we alleviate decisions in both our personal and biz lives, so that we protect our mental energy and avoid decision fatigue?
What is decision fatigue?
Decision fatigue occurs when we use up too much mental energy making decisions. The action of making decisions depletes our mental resources over time. Once we’ve hit this fatigue, and if we keep forcing ourselves to make decision, we’re either going to make poor decisions or avoid making decisions all together (seriously, there’s research that proves it, ya’ll!).
Sound familiar? It’s SO common with entrepreneurs!
For me, creating smart habits and turning over unnecessary decisions really help me avoid decision fatigue.
In addition, I outsource a lot of daily tasks in my life and business (like having a weekly housekeeping service and a rockstar COO) so I can put my focus on my clients, big business decisions, and bringing big ideas to life.
Stop trying to control all the things
So many of us high-performers have the mindset that we have to control ALL THE THINGS.
Trust me, this is an issue I’ve dealt with – and continue to deal with – in life and business.
And when we think we’ve got to control ALL THE THINGS, we tend to make ALL THE DECISIONS.
….And we tend to get ALL THE FATIGUE. You with me?!
If not, just think about it. Do you make most of the decisions for your family? Do you still have a 9 to 5 that requires a ton of choices each day? How about all of the decisions in your business? On any normal day, how many things are you deciding, controlling, and managing?
My guess is it’s a lot! Which means you’re probably also facing a lot of decision fatigue and just plain exhaustion.
When we’re open to giving others more freedom to make decisions FOR US – we can navigate the crucial decisions more effectively and with more ease.
Batch similar tasks together
After tackling decision fatigue in myself, I’ve realized that one of the best ways to minimize fatigue is to do similar tasks together. That way, you don’t have to put on different hats or make lots of decisions.
Just think, what if you wrote your content in chunks? If you tried to do all of your client calls on the same days? If you jumped on all social media platforms in the same time span?
This concept of batching similar tasks together helps you to be IN whatever you’re doing. Plus, it minimizes your fatigue and maximizes your time! Most entrepreneurs fall into fatigue when they’re trying to SWITCH between tasks, not when they’re actually DOING them.
Life and business decisions aren’t separate
In my first few months of business, I realized pretty quick that I had to tackle decisions and minimize (or prevent) decision fatigue, so that I could maximize my impact, efficiency, and time.
One of the big things I learned is to recognize that life and business decisions aren’t separate.
The decisions we make in our business affect the decisions we make in our personal lives and vice versa. They’re not mutually exclusive.
The good news is that if we can minimize our personal decisions, then we can function more effectively in our businesses. (And, again, vice versa.)
Once we start to realize how much our daily personal decisions impact our business we have tremendous opportunity to tighten those up and work much smarter (not harder) in our businesses!
What decisions can you delegate or even delete from your daily life to stay as effective and efficient in business as possible?