Are you a procrastinator? I used to be, and sometimes I can feel the procrastination beginning to take over once again. Now, though, I understand that what I have always blamed on procrastination might be something called decision fatigue.
How many decisions do you make in a day? It’s estimated that the average adult person makes 35,000 decisions a day. Really? That seems an enormous number to me but most of those decisions we don’t really “think” about , even though we are thinking about them. Which shoes are you wearing today? What are you having for/where are you going for lunch? Coffee with cream or black? An endless stream of questions that our brain handles effortlessly. Most of the time.
Now 35,000 is an average. And I will bet you are above average. Busier than the average person and wearing more hats than the average person. Your number is probably much higher than 35,000 and that brings us to decision fatigue. Focus is gone, you know you have things you need to get moving on, but NOT RIGHT NOW. And no matter how much you want to, you just can’t fathom what the right decision might be. That is where I am at this moment. My brain is refusing to focus on any one thing so here I am, sharing my experience with you, knowing that you have been through the same thing probably just as often a I.
Getting proper sleep is important, as is proper nutrition. Exercise, as in get up and go take a walk, is also crucial to overcoming decision fatigue. Give yourself time to relax and re-energize before you begin. That is the plan for today. And soon, the decision fatigue will pass, and I will just begin again. And that is the secret to overcoming procrastination – just begin. Before you know it you are engrossed in your project and wondering where the time went. But for right now, decision fatigue is real and it’s time to just chill.
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