Chris Lakin

Decision Fatigue

I have one kind of sock.

The more trivial things we think about, the less time we have to think about the few things that matter.

‘Decision fatigue’ exists.

For this reason, during periods of productivity in my life I try to reduce ambiguity and complexity.

• Wouldn’t it be tiring to have to, every time you cook, use an entirely new recipe? Personally I don’t care about food much, so I tend to do the same things—and I prefer this.
• Matching and losing socks was slightly, but often, frustrating, so I bought one kind of sock for everyday (plus an extra warm pair for winter) and gave the rest away.
• I have trouble deciding what to do in the moment I have extra time, so I schedule my time profusely. I don’t actively decide when I work, cook, do laundry, go outside, write—I just follow the recurring events on my calendar, and occasionally rearrange as necessary. I plan hour-by-hour, a few days days in advance.
• When I first changed my diet I made the decision “no more cookies; whenever I see a cookie I’m not eating it and saying ‘no thank you’”. And that worked for me— I didn’t have to ask myself the annoying ambiguous questions each time I saw a cookie of “Should I eat it? Should I not?…”; instead, the decision was already made, and that was that. Simple. Deciding “zero cookies” was easier than deciding “less cookies but still sometimes” because there was no ambiguity.

Because often the most annoying aspect of executing an action is deciding the trivial choices it involves. (“What should I do next?” “When should I do this?” “How should this be done?”) But often a permanent solution works almost as well.

And for decisions that don’t have one constant optimal answer, make yourself a flowchart (a decision tree) to simplify the decision instead. Bam, no more ambiguity.

There are places in life for variety of course, but I’d rather have most things be simple, habitually effortless, and as close to decision-less as possible. This is for those things. After all, we can only think about so many things; the more trivial things we think about, the less important and effective our average thoughts are.

After practicing this for several months, I’ve found that there’s something wonderful about having this kind of order in my life. And I can focus more on the few things that matter.

Checklist

I made a list of questions I use to help reduce the decisions I need to make everyday, and hopefully it can help you too.

Checklist

• Notes and sock recommendation.

  Offering less options has been shown to make people happier with their decisions thereafter. There is less need for thinking, and less opportunity for regret.

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  I also try to make my website as linear as possible. I’ve found that I detest websites that try to split one’s attention into several directions at once with quotes randomly interrupting the text, links in the middle of the essay, etc. I enjoy making everything linear and clear.

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  I’m going to sell myself out and put my one type of socks—Because this is an Amazon affiliate link, I’m required to say, “As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.”— here. Hopefully Amazon doesn’t cancel my account again due to inactivity.

Related:

• A checklist to help reduce decision fatigue.
• On freedom from feelings of compulsiveness.
• The purpose of food is to nourish!

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Posted 2021 January 24, last updated 2021 February 20.