Are you up to your eyeballs in decisions to make these days? School, schedule, work, extra-curriculars, ministry, travel, family affairs, housing, health…the list goes on doesn’t it?
Chances are, many of you are navigating decisions that have to be made not just in terms of multiple categories, but for multiple people in your lives. All of this can lead to decision fatigue, because, let’s face it, we only have so much capacity for decision making each day.
Recently I started to write a blog post about decision fatigue as a wrap-up for my summer series, when I realized that over the years I’d written 3 blog posts on the topic. Typically these posts and emails experience higher readership than almost every other topic, except for when I write about the Cotswolds.
Why does decision fatigue garner such interest? To be honest, I don’t have a great answer, except that at no other time in history have we been inundated with so many queries requiring a response, decision, purchase, plans. I believe many of us are becoming weary as a result.
From emails to activity-specific apps, texts to social media platforms, we are at everyone’s beck and call, available to make decisions or respond to a need at any time of the day or night. Even up until very recently, the only way we could be summoned or interrupted instantly was via a landline.
We have access to endless search options for just about everything from travel itineraries to grocery items. Clothes shopping, hiring a plumber, or registering kids for activities were far more limited and simplified processes prior to our digital era.
Today’s digital constructs offer up information, requests, and options in tireless fashion, ever eroding our rest. As I witness my rest being upset by the endless barrage of information and communication, I’m learning to set better boundaries with regards to how I handle the overload and reduce the decision fatigue that it invites.
Below are 3 digital/device habits I’ve begun implementing over the past year in order to reduce decision fatigue:
- My phone (and Will’s) stay in the kitchen for night. I don’t need the temptation of the internet, texts, photos, etc., if I wake in the night and am struggling to sleep. It’s not natural or timeless, and as my desire grows to implement more slow living strategies, those habits that don’t have a history are less likely to make the cut when it comes to my daily rhythms.
- I (mostly) avoid checking my email, texts, or other message-related apps first thing in the morning. The same goes for online shopping or searching. My plans, my prayers, and my practices (working out, journaling, making tea etc.) need to come before the rest of the world is allowed to make their requests known or their products and services offered. I’m also trying to do less checking of my device in the evening and make ‘business hours’ a thing. If it’s not social/relationship-oriented, it probably doesn’t need to take up space in my head between dinner and breakfast.
- With bigger decisions or requests I’m trying to spend more time thinking and praying about them instead of making decisions sooner than I ought. The decision or answer might wind up being the same in the end, but the habit of not responding, scheduling, or purchasing so soon is better for my nervous system and leaves me more calm and confident in my timing, responses, and choices.
Feel free to save or repin the image above for easy reference in the future.
Ultimately, I feel like I’m reclaiming my brain through these slower, more intentional processes. Through boundaries that limit my access and exposure to the digital world and my devices, I’m giving myself the gift of rest. This helps to reduce decision fatigue, not because the decisions go away (they don’t), but because I’m able to make better decisions with more clarity when I address them at more appropriate times.
Is decision fatigue something you struggle with? I would love to know what aspect of this issue is a weak spot for you, as well as what has helped you manage decision fatigue. Feel free to write me at: hello@bringinginspiraitonhome.com or message me on Instagram @bringinginspirationhome
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