Decision fatigue is the idea that making many decisions wears down your ability to make good ones, nudging you towards defaults, impulsive choices or avoidance. It grew out of research on "ego depletion", which has had trouble replicating, so the strong version of the claim is contested. The everyday observation — lots of small choices leave you scattered — is widely shared.
Why it matters
Whatever the mechanism, a day full of trivial decisions tends to leave less clear thinking for the important ones. Removing small decisions frees attention for real work.
How to apply it
- Decide tomorrow's first task the evening before.
- Use routines and defaults for recurring choices.
- Schedule important decisions for your sharpest hours.
- Batch small decisions instead of making them as they come.