Decision fatigue is the concept that as we make more and more decisions throughout the day we begin to make irrational tradeoffs. We see an increase in impulsivity and a decrease “willpower”. It seems to be a greater issue in those who believe they have low or depleted willpower vs those who believe that their willpower is an innate trait that remains constant.
Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs and evening Albert Einstein famously dress the same every day in order to limit the amount of decisions they must make in a day and save mental bandwidth for more important things (at least according to their own mythology). And I find that some of my clients who struggle most with these issues are those juggling a myriad of responsibilities; from CEOs and finance execs making potentially costly choices all day, marketing executive mothers now tasked with being teachers, full time workers becoming full time students as well. This isn’t a “laziness” problem, it affects high achievers particularly hard.
So if you find yourself making impulsive choices around food as the day progresses, how can you remedy it? Well, for one we can work to reduce the amount of decisions we make day to day. When it comes to food, there is a very simple task that will improve all levels of decision making: planning.
Resistance to planning daily meals is a common denominator among those who struggle with decision fatigue around food. There is this idea that planning somehow takes the pleasure out of food but it is quite the opposite. By having a structured plan around our daily meals we not only remove the time required making those multiple decisions, we also reduce the amount of decisions we make each day. It simplifies our shopping and saves money by not allowing for last minute impulse ordering out.
Make the hard choice easy. Stop putting obstacles in your path to success. You don’t suffer from a lack of willpower, you suffer from an over abundance of choice. And it’s in your control, and therefore your responsibility, to limit the amount of decisions in front of you. A simple plan can save you from yourself.
