Decision fatigue is real and it’s here to stay

Do you have those moments during the week when you need to answer to an email, and it’s not just a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ but one that requires you to make a decision, however small? If you’re like most engineers, knowledge workers or white-collar professionals, the answer is likely yes. Here are some examples (with a ‘decision translation’):

Should we get this started by creating a shared Google slide deck to start putting together our material? Decision Translation: Yes/no, who creates the deck, what template to use, communicating to the team about what they need to put on the deck, deadlines, setting up a zoom call to discuss all of the above?

I’m a little confused about what you said the other day. Can we do a quick zoom call to discuss? Decision Translation: I can barely remember what I said a few hours ago, let alone the other day. What does ‘quick’ mean here? Can we just resolve this through a few Slack back-and-forths?

This report needs to be uploaded by tomorrow, but my colleague does not seem to have done it yet. Decision Translation: Maybe I can Slack my colleague to do it? How do I approach it without appearing rude or sounding like I’m accusing her of having forgotten?

Let’s face it: some of these are easier for some of us than others. It depends on the person. Maybe you have a lot of open slots on our calendar and you can schedule a Zoom call with relative ease. Maybe you’re really friendly with your colleague, and you know you can just Slack her without thinking too much. Or maybe you’re not, and you’re trying to make the message sound just right, not too passive-aggressive (and with an emoji to signal peace)?

Are there times, such as a Monday morning after two espressos, where you feel like the answers to questions like these just rattle off your fingertips, and you’re in a decision flow? And conversely, moments where you’re dreading writing even a short email, not because it’s intimidating, but simply because you’re tired? That’s a good tell that you are decision fatigued.

The interesting thing about decision fatigue is that it does not typically apply to the ‘big’ decisions in life, such as which college to go to, whether to get married, switch jobs, or buy a house. These are excruciating decisions for some, to be sure, and they can be scary, but they don’t tire you out in the way that the ‘little’ decisions do. Also, my own experience has been that decision fatigue is amplified when communications are more written than verbal. Because of this pandemic, many of us in 2020 and even 2021 don’t have the option of walking down the corridor and poking our head in the door to just ask what’s on our minds.

If you allow it to get too severe, decision fatigue will kill your energy by executing death by a thousand cuts, rather than a beheading at the guillotine. It can make your day feel bureaucratic, if not downright stressful. Too much of it can start manifesting in sloppiness: emails with only half the issues addressed, indecisiveness, typos, and a general sense of listlessness that does little to inspire confidence. For those of us in fields that require us to be creative, such as both the arts and the sciences, decision fatigue can really upset your mojo.

If lived experience were not enough, evidence from the scientific literature and the popular press backs up the existence of decision fatigue. The evidence primarily stems from the medical field, where it is easier to do this research because of the many (big and little) decisions that nurses and surgeons have to make on a daily basis. According to a recent paper, for instance, “evidence suggests that individuals experiencing decision fatigue demonstrate an impaired ability to make trade-offs, prefer a passive role in the decision making process, and often make choices that seem impulsive or irrational (Tierney, 2011).”

This is why I sometimes take issue with the word burnout, not because it’s not real, but because it’s coarse. Burnout can occur for any number of reasons, including cognitive fatigue, of which decision fatigue is a rarely discussed, but important, sub-component. Perhaps you’re spending too much time in virtual meetings and experiencing Zoom fatigue, and not finding time for ‘real work’. Perhaps you just feel stuck, because you’re an extrovert and you feel caged by this pandemic.

However, there is a chance that Zoom fatigue will diminish as we start returning to a hybrid workplace, and start designating days in the office when we start holding meetings. Cognitive fatigue typically tends to be discussed most often when you’ve been through a period of intense cognitive activity, including taking an exam, writing a paper or brainstorming with your team.

Because we’ve learned to recognize these kinds of fatigue, we’re more wary of them. Not so with decision fatigue. It is invisible, because it is like a small ‘cut’. Everyone expects quick answers to seemingly simple Slack messages and emails. Paradoxically, the Cambrian explosion of ‘productivity’ tools, including numerous file sharing platforms, collaborative writing platforms (Overleaf, Office, Docs, Dropbox Paper…), scheduling and project management (Asana, Calendar, [name your tool]…), real-time messaging (Slack, [name your platform],…) has led to an explosion in decision fatigue. There is often a vague fear in our minds that we’re getting outdated, that we won’t be able to access something on a given date (maybe because we’ve forgotten the password and the browser refuses to auto-fill correctly), and that we’ll fall behind completely if we so much as go offline for two days.

How can we best manage and mitigate decision fatigue? To be honest, I don’t know, which is a pessimistic way of saying that I’m still learning to deal with it. I have learned enough about myself to know that I am in my personal decision flow after a strong cup of coffee in the morning. Hence, when I am feeling decision fatigue I ask myself whether the decision can wait, at least till the next morning. Sometimes it can’t, and I have to force myself to write or schedule something, even when my mind is completely not in it and it feels just a teensy bit agonizing.

But many times it can, and I simply star the email and call it a night.