Latest / RiseUp - Live Joy Your Way / How to Overcome Decision Fatigue

Transcript

How to Overcome Decision Fatigue · RiseUp - Live Joy Your Way

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Today's episode is produced by my friends at Walk West.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: If you're looking to grow your brand and generate leads through podcast or video production, head over to walkwest.com.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's start the show.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Rise up, live joy your way.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: From emotional intelligence through cognitive distortions, certified life and wellness coach Comedy Wood is on a mission to help people see the magnificence of their own unique human spirit.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Through these small bites of self-visualization and self-confidence, you can have healthy relationships, success in business and career, and live the life you want to live.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Rise up, live joy your way.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: Hi there and welcome to another episode of Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: Whether it's morning, afternoon, or evening when you've chosen to tune in to this episode, I just want to say thank you.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for taking some time out of your day to spend here with me.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: And today we're going to be talking about decision fatigue and how we overcome it.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: So, question Have you ever heard of decision fatigue?
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: When we think about it every day, we have to make a number of choices.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Making decisions are necessary.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: They're part of our everyday lives from choosing whether or not we're going to get out of bed or hit the snooze button to what we're going to eat for dinner to bigger decisions like what career we're going to choose for ourselves or whether we're going to stay in that job or whether we want to relocate, whether we want to get married or not married, whether we want to have kids, countless decisions each and every day that do take a toll on our well-being.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: So when people are faced with a large number of decisions, they might start suffering from a psychological phenomenon known as decision fatigue.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it can also be referred to as ego depletion.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: But what this phenomenon illustrates is that the stress that comes from having to make several decisions, no matter how big or small, uh, what ends up happening is when there are so many, the it it starts to take a toll on us.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: And making decisions throughout the day, when we think about it, does use up our mental resources, even the small decisions.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: So when we have this cognitive overload, it can become harder and harder to make decisions.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: The um there was a an American social psychologist, uh Baumeister, who coined the term decision fatigue.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it was coined to explain the di the decrease in a person's decision-making ability resulting from the burden of choices or long decision-making process or periods.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, psychologists do argue that people who are under too much stress tend to disconnect and shut down.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, what does decision fatigue look like and what might it feel like?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: When we are suffering from decision fatigue, it can manifest in different ways, including procrastination, for instance, or impulsivity.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: So this can be troublesome if you are a high-performing professional and you're made, you you are required to make many decisions throughout your day.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: If you find yourself procrastinating or unable to make decisions, that could definitely start impeding your uh professional trajectory.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Having to make decisions can cause you dread and start having you, you know, have you dread the tasks and the decisions, but what ends up happening is uh this starts to become a habit over time.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so then procrastination could start affecting not just your professional career, but also maybe your personal career.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: I mean your personal lives.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: In terms of impulsivity, when we think about decision fatigue and how we could how it could lead to impulsivity, when we start to find ourselves um reacting very quickly.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: So for instance, if you find yourself getting angry even at the smallest things, that could be actually an indication that you are emotionally fatigued and it could be related to decision fatigue because what happens when we are overwhelmed is we start to have the inability to self-regulate or to have patience or control or maintain our composure.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: So we might make hasty decisions or just hasty emotional reactions to things.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Other things that can happen are uh dwelling on insignificant decisions.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: So if we're if we're suffering from decision fatigue, what ends up happening is we might find ourselves dwelling on decisions over something super small that isn't actually a big deal.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: So for instance, uh dwelling on what to have for lunch or whether you should go out for lunch or go out for dinner, that's something that's not very significant.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're already feeling fatigued from all of the other decisions and overwhelmed, having being able to make even that decision feels like it's too much.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: Decision fatigue is a state of mental and emotional depletion.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: So when we experience decision fatigue, it does affect our ourselves, but it can also impact the relationships we have with other people as well.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just important to pay attention to that.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: What really causes it is when you find yourself having to make too many decisions in succession.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, the more you have to make, the more mentally and emotionally exhausted you become.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, when there are too many alternatives to choose from, it's it's interesting if you look at if you just take a little kid and you give them eight options to choose from for an outfit, they might actually have a complete meltdown versus if you give them one or two.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's just a small example of decision fatigue, uh, because there are too many choices.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Decision fatigue is both mental and emotional.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: And what that just means is having to make a lot of decisions quickly can it can impact our ability to focus and pay attention.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: It can lead us to feeling irritated, lack of motivation, as I said, anxiety, depression, um, just feeling less energetic.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, sometimes it can even lead to just feeling hopeless and helpless in terms of I don't know what the right answer is.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when we start hearing ourselves say that, that inner dialogue goes, I don't even know what the right answer is.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: That that could be an indication that we're just we're exhausted.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: So what do we do about it?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: One of the things that we can do is plan ahead and give ourselves permission to stick to the plan that we've come up with.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: So planning ahead and um being able to reduce the number of decisions we might have to make.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: For instance, if you do have a lot coming up in at work, just being able to have your day laid out so that you know what it is that you're focusing on that day might help be able to manage the number of decisions you'll have to make on the fly.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: Prioritizing your tasks and doing those urgent and important things first can also help just uh be able to give you some perspective of what you want to focus on, which leads into simplifying your choices.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: So when again, when we have too many choices, it can feel overwhelming.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: So being able to give yourself permission to simplify the decisions that you're making, maybe by reducing the number of options available.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: So for instance, if you have a lot of options available, taking out a few of them right away, and then um it's almost like a multiple choice test where you eliminate the wrong answers immediately, then you're down to just a couple.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it doesn't have to slow you down.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's really important to just recognize that this is an example of stress.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's an example of overwhelm.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's an example of being outside of your window of tolerance.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: So when we are dealing with this uh decision fatigue, it's important to take care of yourself, to see if you can slow down, come back to the present moment.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Mindfulness, I talk about it all the time, but it is so incredibly helpful.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: I know from my own personal experience, when I am in a state of overwhelm, just coming back to the present moment, what's in front of me right here and right now is so, so important.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: If you are feeling overwhelmed and you're just feeling taken, you know, just you don't know exactly how to what the decisions that you are that you would like to make, or you're just needing support, it's important to talk to somebody, being able to get that person or people, that community who can hear you, listen to you, and give you the support you need.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, if you would like to talk to me about this or anything else that you might be working through, feel free to book a time with me at chatwithcomedy.com.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: And until next time, stay well.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: For more information, book a chat with comedy at www.chatwithcomedy.com.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Or visit her website at www.comedywood.com.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: You can also find comedy on Facebook or Instagram.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Username It's Authentic Me.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.