Happiful June 2020

How to overcome
decision fatigue
Life can often feel like a long string of decisions. What to wear, what to have for
dinner, how to reply to an email, or even what book to read next. Big decisions,
small decisions, they all add up, and can become draining...
I
don’t know about you but,
sometimes, I can’t face making
another decision. It doesn’t even
have to be anything significant –
after a long day, just choosing a
new Netflix series can feel like the
hardest choice in the world.
Well, it turns out there’s a reason
for this. Decisions actually can feel
harder to make, the more of them
we have to make. In fact, according
to a 2010 study in America, judges
in court have been shown to make
poorer quality decisions later
in the day than they do in the
morning. The fate of a defendant’s
sentence might
really depend on
how many other
cases the judge
Writing | Becky Wright
Illustrating | Rosan Magar
has had to deliberate over – and
whether or not they’ve eaten
lunch.
It’s something even supermarkets
are wise to. That’s why you’ll
usually find sweet snacks displayed
prominently at the
checkout. Yes,
just when
we’re depleted
after making all
those decisions
throughout the
aisles, we can be
tempted easily with a snap decision
to pick up a chocolate bar by
the till.
No matter how rational you try
to be, you can’t make decision
after decision without paying a
biological price. It’s different from
ordinary physical fatigue – you’re
not consciously aware of
being tired – but you’re low
on mental energy. The
more choices you make
throughout
the day, the
28 • happiful.com • June 2020