Do you struggle to make the “right” decisions at the end of a long day? Find yourself stopping for takeout or reaching for the chips rather than that chicken and sweet potato you had planned on? You could well be suffering from decision fatigue.
Decision fatigue is the idea that as we face mounting decisions throughout the day we become more likely to make decisions quickly and based on emotion. It’s that feeling when we have all intent to stick to our nutrition plan but after a long, hard day at work we order the burger and fries. We are still motivated to change, driven to succeed, but something in our brain just doesn’t cooperate. And we rationalize, justify, and bargain our way into that easy choice. We are just tired of making hard decisions.
In all likelihood we aren’t going to be able to eliminate hard days from our lives. Unless you’ve got a sweet trust fund and are reading this from your hammock in Bali, you’re probably gonna have to make some tough choices today. At work, with your SO, or with your kids. Somewhere, then, we are gonna need to reduce our reliance on decision making and instead automate some practices.
That’s why I’m a fan of simplicity, repeatability, and a simple structure. My mornings are pretty jammed. I wake up, meditate, take Bigsby for a walk, sit down for an hour of writing, then get into emails and checkins. If I’m not intentional in my actions it’s easy to start letting things fall by the wayside. And I have it easy! I work from home, on my own schedule, and don’t have kids! And I still feel behind the 8 ball by the time 9 am rolls around. So I automate my food. I remove some critical decisions.
Every morning I throw some frozen peppers and onions in a nonstick pan, add 5oz of prepped lean ground beef, 2 eggs, and a piece of low fat cheese. I throw that scramble over a bed of broccoli slaw. My next two meals will be chicken breast over vegetables or rice depending on training. My post workout meal will be the same. Dinner is my chance to have a little variety which might be some lean steak or fish or chicken.
Reducing the chance of decision fatigue can be as easy as reducing decisions. We probably can’t remove them from our work or home life so food choice is a simple win. Make things easier by making them easier. There’s no extra points for struggling.
