When people recognize decision fatigue, they often try common solutions that ultimately backfire:
"Just Be More Organized"
Planning and organization help, but they often create more decisions. Now you must decide: - Which planning system to use - When to plan - How detailed to be - Which tool or app - How to maintain the system
Organization without simplification just redistributes the decision load.
"Learn to Prioritize Better"
Prioritization assumes you can easily distinguish important from unimportant decisions. But in the moment, with depleted resources, everything feels urgent. Your tired brain can't accurately assess priority, leading to majoring in minors.
"Take Breaks and Practice Self-Care"
Rest helps, but it's a band-aid on a broken system. You can't rest your way out of 35,000 daily decisions. It's like trying to bail out a sinking boat with a teaspoon while ignoring the holes in the hull.
"Just Make Faster Decisions"
Speed without systems leads to poor choices you'll need to revisit, creating more decisions. Quick bad decisions often generate decision debt—future choices needed to fix today's rushed ones.