Quick thoughts - Beat decision fatigue
It's a structural setup, not a personal problem.
Beat decision fatigue
Decision fatigue is why by 2pm you can't figure out what to eat for lunch, and by 5pm you're spiraling over whether to send that last email or let your kid have another episode of Bluey.
It’s a real thing. But, you’re not broken — your brain is overworked.
When you’re faced with decision after decision with no breaks, your pre-frontal cortex (the parts of your brain that handle executive functioning like planning and strategizing) is on overdrive. When this happens, your brain’s emotion centers (like your amygdala) take over. This emotional reactivity can lead to a feeling of fight, flight, or freeze.
Typically, this looks like impulsive decision-making or a feeling of “I just couldn’t care less.”
Living through chaos and trauma makes all of this worse because it’s harder to predict the future, and feel certainty.
It's not about willpower. It's that your executive functioning is just DONE.
But, here’s the thing— decision fatigue is structural, not personal. It’s what happens in a country that has no federally mandated paid parental leave, inadequate access to affordable childcare, and a cultural narrative that says if you're burnt out, it's your fault for not being "resilient.”
This isn't a personal problem. It's a structural setup.
Lean into: front-loading your most important decisions for first thing in the morning; pausing when you feel irritable or like you just don’t care anymore (that’s a sign decision fatigue brain is in control); putting low stakes decisions on auto-pilot (think: every Friday is pizza night).
Want More?
Decision fatigue is amplified by the invisible labor of modern life - especially for women and caregivers. Dr. Lisa MacLean, a psychiatrist at Henry Ford Health, discusses how the complexity of modern life contributes to decision fatigue in the American Medical Association newswire here. She notes that post-pandemic challenges, such as political turmoil and the climate crisis, have intensified the daily burden of decision-making, leading to feelings of overwhelm and exhaustion.
A 2011 study of judges granting parole decisions published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that judges granted parole at different rates as the day wore on. Early on in the day, judges granted parole roughly 65% of the time, while by the end of the day, the parole rate dropped to 0%. The rate hopped back up abruptly to the 65% range after judges took a short break.
In my clinical practice, I notice that caregivers and parents (especially mothers) are handling the vast majority of family decisions like planning childcare, managing doctors appointments, keeping track of school forms. Eve Rodsky, best-selling author of Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live), has a great system for bringing other family members into the decision making process through her CPE (conception, planning, and execution) framework.
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📲 For more Quick Thoughts, check out When Time Feels Unreal from the archives.
Thank you so much for this reminder first thing on a Monday. I'm trying to take better care of myself, and everyone else, and not lose my mind.
Thank you! Decision fatigue is definitely part of ME/CFS ‘brain fog’ because I have to make so many decisions about how to safely spend my very limited energy. I’m already applying your solutions but grateful for the reminder, and the reminder this is a human problem rather than a sign of my personal inadequacy.