Miscellaneous
Almost all of us have found ourselves making unhealthy or unproductive decisions at one point or another, especially over the course of the pandemic. But why do we make these poor choices even when we know better? Today I’ll look at some of the biggest factors that impact our ability to make decisions that serve us well, and five powerful ways that you can organize and simplify your life to avoid decision fatigue - the mental and emotional state of depletion resulting from a burden of choices. We start our days with hundreds of little decisions that take up mental energy - What should I wear? What am I going to have for breakfast? Do I have time to make coffee? As the day goes on, these tiny choices add up and we get so tired and overwhelmed that we’re just done with making decisions by dinnertime. This is when we fall victim to decision fatigue, which causes us to make poor decisions. We defer important choices to someone else or choose not to make any at all. On this episode, I break down several examples of how decision fatigue can affect us, how this differs from lack of willpower, and I dig into five practical ways that you can avoid decision fatigue and make better choices as a result. You’ll hear why making decisions can be so paralyzing when we have too many options, how even the most mundane choices can drain our mental energy, why sitting back and hoping we make the right decision never works, and most importantly, what you can do about it right now. I challenge you to choose just one of my five strategies to overcome decision fatigue this week, and truly go for it. Because listen, we’ve all been there - at the end of an exhausting day, you order takeout and settle in to watch Netflix when you know working out or tackling your side hustle might be the more fulfilling option. Today's episode will show you how to incorporate healthy, productive choices right into your daily routine so that you never have to settle for less. As always, if there is ever a topic you would like me to discuss, a guest you’d like me to interview on the podcast, or feedback you wish to offer, please feel free to contact me at pr@kellytravis.net - I would love to hear from you! The Finer Details of This Episode: Why we make unhealthy or unproductive decisions even when we know better Unexpected factors that influence our decision-making Mental energy fades as we make more and more decisions throughout the day Decision fatigue can be confused with lack of willpower Five ways we can organize and simplify our lives to avoid this and make better choices as a result Challenge to try just one of these strategies to begin overcoming decision fatigue Quotes: “The question I want to ask you, as we dig in, is why do we make unhealthy or unproductive choices, even when we know we could do better, but we don’t?” “What happens to us as we go through the day is we get tired. It's overwhelming. There's so many little decisions we make all of the time, and big ones, too, that by 3pm, we're kind of over it.” “It is no wonder that by the end of the day, we've made hundreds, if not thousands of decisions, and we're opting for the easy answer or no decision at all. Because we're so damn tired.” “When your stamina is fading, and your brain is tired from making all the decisions, it's easier to just say no.” “Some studies say that your brain makes 10,000 to 40,000 decisions every day. That's a lot of mental energy. And then once you hit the point of depletion, your lack of mental energy can cause you to make poor decisions.” “Again, it's not an issue of willpower. It's because we're just inundated with all these choices.” “Think about Netflix - I mean, I don't watch TV because I get too overwhelmed with the options.” “There are a lot of decisions that drain our energy that we literally experience over and over again. And this is wasting a lot of our energy because they can be planned for.” “If we make these [decisions] ahead of time, then it's so much easier to have these on autopilot almost. And then when we get thrown all these other decisions that we didn't plan for, we don't feel as exhausted.” “When grocery shoppers were offered six different flavors of jam, 30% of shoppers purchased a jar of jam. In contrast, when shoppers were given 24 different flavors of jam to try, only 3% of shoppers purchased a jar.” “The task of making a decision can be paralyzing when we have too many options.” “Give yourself a time limit on the decision.” “Stop making decisions, start making commitments.” “I hope that of the five things I shared with you, you can try one.” “My hope is that of these five, one of them is going to be amazing for you and help a lot.” Show Links: Kelly’s homepage -www.kellytravis.net Ascend Mastermind - www.kellytravis.net/ascend