Decision Fatigue
learning how to choose well
This blog was originally posted January 2022 on heidivanderpan.com.
Anyone else have decision fatigue?
Adele’s song “Easy on Me” has been fleeting in and out of my mind with one particular phrase on repeat:
“I had no time to choose, what I chose to do.”
Each time the line repeats in my mind (or I belt it out in my car) it shines a spotlight on one of my biggest fears:
I fear that I’ll make (or have made) choices that won’t get me to where I want to be in life.
As I considered my goals and intentions for the new year I found myself solely focused on the end result and overwhelmed by the tiny decisions I would need to make to get there. With Adele’s lyrics on a loop in my mind and my deepest fear exposed, a new phrase snuck it’s way into my thoughts:
I have time to choose, and I have time to choose well.
This is the mindset I’m bringing into the new year, even though, I’m tired of making decisions! (Literally the other day I told a friend “I just want someone to make this decision for me!”)
But, after 28 years, I’m finally coming to terms that decisions are a part of life. Rather than being tired of making them or afraid of making the wrong one, I’m learning how to see them as an opportunity to choose well!
Notice I used the word learning?
Along with learning how to choose well, I’m learning how to choose well. Get it?
We can so easily have a mindset shift like this one and take it on as a new mantra or intention for the year, but we have to learn the action steps that go along with it.
For me, making a wise decision requires me to reflect on my values, to understand how I take in information and apply it, and it requires me to know myself well enough to make sure it’s a good decision for me and not a good decision for someone else.
All of this looks like taking deep breaths, making (various) pros and cons lists, and intentionally considering “what other options are out there?”.
If you resonate with experiencing decision fatigue, or the newfound freedom of having time to choose well, I encourage you to consider these questions:
What does creating space to “choose well” look like for me?
In the past, when have I made a decision I felt good about? What indicated to me that it was a good decision?
How do my values influence my decision making process?
May we each see time as a gift and receive it as an opportunity to choose well.