So I am absolutely the kind of person
who would take 15 minutes
trying to decide what ice cream flavor I want.
I think it's called a paradox of choice
and it is an increasing problem
for a lot of people living in the modern world.
And it happens when neither of the choices
are either good or bad
and you neither love or hate either of them.
So your compass for making decision
just gets all screwed up.
And when I look back at that time,
well, actually I still do that.
It was like a disease.
I was plagued by the little decisions that I had to make,
and I didn't realize how much energy
it was taking out of my life
until I read this article by James Clear
on decision fatigue.
He talks about this research
by the National Academy of Sciences,
where they study 1,100 judicial hearings
over a 10-month period.
So these were all parole board judges
who basically had to decide
if the criminal had to stay in jail
or if they could be released on parole.
And what they realized
is that it wasn't actually the context
or the particulars of the crime
that had the biggest impact on their decisions,
but it was actually the time of day.
So at the beginning of the day,
the percentage of a favorable ruling would be up about 65%.
And near the end of the day, it would drop down to zero.
And this happened all across the board.
And so after reading this article,
I decided to do a bit of an extreme experiment.
And I basically decided
I'm gonna stop making any small decisions. (laughs)
So if I went to a restaurant,
I would just ask the staff recommendations.
And if I got ice cream,
I would just tell my friend to get me whatever she's having.
And then the second thing I started doing
is for any big decisions in my life,
I gave myself a time limit to make those decisions
'cause I felt like, yeah,
it's actually a huge waste of my time
and I'm wasting my energy
to keep thinking about the same problem over and over again.
So I actually did this for six months.
I ate whatever someone else ordered for me for six months.
But what I realized is that I actually felt a visible,
like a weight lifted off of me.
And I just had more energy
to make other decisions in my life.
So basically willpower is like, it's like a muscle.
If you keep using it throughout the day,
it's gonna get tired
and it's gonna fade away throughout the day.
So here's some slightly more practical ways
you can reduce decision fatigue and increase willpower.
So the first one take a couple of minutes the night before
to make all the small decisions.
So plan out what you're gonna wear,
plan out what you're gonna eat for breakfast.
This way you're not wasting your precious willpower
on those little decisions.
And number two, do the most important things first.
Studies have shown over and over and over again
that your mind is more focused and clear in the morning.
So whether it's learning a new language
or writing a new book,
try to do that right in the morning.
And number three, schedule your tasks.
If you're, let's say trying to lose weight,
schedule the workouts right in your calendar.
If you trust yourself to make that decision
after a long day of work, you are mistaken my friends.
Your willpower is gonna run out
and it's gonna be harder and harder for you
to make those hard decisions.
I schedule my writing right in the morning
from 6:00 a.m to 7:30 a.m.
I actually started doing this not long ago
and I love it because I know
that once I get back from work, I'm tired.
All I'm gonna wanna do is just chill on the couch.
And so, yeah, having that right in my schedule,
it's a great way to keep consistent.
And then number four is eat, workout and recharge.
So the study that I was talking about before
showed that the judges favorable rulings spiked up
right after they had their lunch breaks.
Obviously if you're eating pizza or junk food
and you go into a food coma after,
that's not really gonna work out.
So try to eat healthy foods
and also sneaking in a little bit of exercise during the day
can also be a really great way to recharge.
For me I bike to work or I speed walk to work.
And that actually helps me get really energized
for work in the morning.
And if you wanna try going the extreme route that I did
and try cutting out all the small decisions
in your life, I would try it.
You'd be surprised
at how many of them really doesn't make a difference.