The Scene staff
There is one week of classes left before finals, and many deadlines are approaching, yet I have no inspiration or motivation to complete my assignments.
The problem? Decision fatigue. It’s a condition that is caused when a person has had so many choices and made so many decisions over a period of time, they’re too tired to continue.
This has a negative effect on your confidence, your willpower, your mood and your emotions.
It was bound to happen. Normally, I would have my routine down to a science, avoiding too much mental stress. But this year, I took on more than I could handle.
I enrolled in too many classes. I volunteered too often at my son’s school. I got involved in too many extracurricular activities. And I tried to maintain an active social life.
A simple task, such as brushing my hair, seems as difficult as preparing for a chemistry exam. And don’t get me started by asking what it takes to decide what to prepare for dinner.
My mind feels like a sore muscle after a long workout. All I want to do is hire someone to make simple decisions for me, even telling me what to eat and when to go to bed.
I just want to lie on the beach for a month with a coconut drink, all by myself, to give my mind a break.
The first time I heard about decision fatigue, I was searching for a book on self-discipline and found one by Martin Meadows, a best-selling personal development author.
Meadows explained how fatigue of the mind can lead to a lack of self-discipline. He talked about former President Barack Obama, who once told Vanity Fair that he would only wear gray or blue suits to reduce decision-making.
I also read a story in The New York Times called “Do You Suffer from Decision Fatigue?” by John Tierney.
“Three men doing time in Israeli prisons recently appeared before a parole board consisting of a judge, a criminologist and a social worker,” the story read. “The three prisoners had completed at least two-thirds of their sentences, but the parole board granted freedom to only one of them. Guess which one?”
The choices were:
Case 1 (heard at 8:50 a.m.): An Arab-Israeli serving a 30-month sentence for fraud.
Case 2 (heard at 3:10 p.m.): A Jewish-Israeli serving a 16-month sentence for assault.
Case 3 (heard at 4:25 p.m.): An Arab-Israeli serving a 30-month sentence for fraud.
“There was a pattern to the parole board’s decisions, but it wasn’t related to the men’s ethnic backgrounds, crimes or sentences,” the story continued. “It was all about timing, as researchers discovered by analyzing more than 1,100 decisions over the course of a year.”
Tierney was referring to researchers Jonathan Levav of Stanford University and Shai Danziger of Ben-Gurion University.
The story went on to explain that “prisoners who appeared early in the morning received parole about 70 percent of the time, while those who appeared late in the day were paroled less than 10 percent of the time.”
The researchers attributed the phenomenon to an occupational hazard, one that former President George W. Bush described as being “the decider.”
“The mental work of ruling on case after case, whatever the individual merits, wore them down,” the story explained. “This sort of decision fatigue can make quarterbacks prone to dubious choices late in a game and CFO’s prone to disastrous dalliances late in the evening.
“It routinely warps the judgment of everyone, executive and nonexecutive, rich and poor — in fact, it can take a special toll on the poor. Yet few people are even aware of it, and researchers are only beginning to understand why it happens and how to counteract it.”
I apologize to Tierney for lifting so much of his story for my column, but I’m not sure I could do as good a job of explaining this research project.
So decision fatigue doesn’t just affect 26-year-old college students like me, but also judges and probably U.S. presidents.
With the semester coming to an end, I have formulated a plan to keep myself from getting into the same mess next semester. Here are main points:
Make plans the night before
Instead of spending an hour watching TV or engaging in social media each night, I’ll set aside time to make decisions, like what to wear, what to eat for lunch, when to take a shower and what errands to run the next day.
Set reminders on my phone
Instead of trying to remember things on my own, I’ll take advantage of Siri’s services. She can remind me to do homework, make an appointment or call and check up on my mother or siblings.
Give my mind a break
I will set aside 30 minutes a day to meditate, take a hot bath, go on a walk, listen to instrumental music or do nothing at all. The idea is to give my mind a break from decision-making or being productive.
Take on less responsibility
I will stop taking on too much responsibility. I will never take five classes at the same time again. I will volunteer, but keep it at a reasonable level. I will learn to say “no” to extracurricular activities when I don’t have time.
Somehow, I will get everything done this semester. I always do. But I want next semester to be more pleasant and less stressful.