Quick and Easy Ways to Defeat Your Decision Fatigue (Make Better Choices!)

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

OK, I admit it. Today’s topic is kind of a first world problem.

We’re talking about the concept of decision fatigue.

That’s when having too many choices makes you feel bad about your eventual choice, or you freeze up and not make any decision at all.

Sure, 31 flavors of ice cream might seem like a cool idea, but you’ll always feel like you’re missing out. Maybe I should have gotten the rocky road? Or the birthday cake? Or mint chocolate chip?

If you’ve ever seen a baby act completely enchanted by a single teddy bear or one plastic race car, then you know that having more options doesn’t mean more happiness.

In today’s video, you’ll learn 3 quick and easy ways to defeat your decision fatigue.

The video transcript is below for your convenience.

Next Steps

Video Transcript

OK, I admit it. Today’s topic is kind of a first world problem.

We’re talking about the concept of decision fatigue.

That’s when having too many choices makes you feel bad about your eventual choice, or you freeze up and not make any decision at all.

Sure 31 flavors of ice cream might seem like a cool idea, but you’ll always feel like you’re missing out. Maybe I should have gotten the rocky road? Or the birthday cake? Or mint chocolate chip?

If you’ve ever seen a baby act completely enchanted by a single teddy bear or one plastic race car, then you know that having more options doesn’t mean more happiness.

In today’s video, you’ll learn 3 quick and easy ways to defeat your decision fatigue. Let’s go!

Hey there! I’m Sage Grayson, a former book editor turned life coach. I help ambitious career women edit their habits, routines, and mindsets to balance their happiness at work and home. I’m a Life Editor…and so are you!

Before I tell you why having too many options will slow you down , please give this video a big thumbs-up and hit that subscribe button so you won’t any of my life editing tips.

I get it. We’re privileged and blessed to have too many choices in our lives.

Our grocery stores are packed with every kind of food imaginable. We have hundreds of deluxe TV channels to choose from and even more video streaming services.

And we can choose to go to any university, study any topic, and have any kind of career we can dream up.

It’s astounding, but sometimes it can feel kind of empty.

Decision fatigue is exactly what it sounds like. We get tired of making decisions and sifting through the thousands of options we’re presented with every day.

When we have too many choices, we might freeze up and not make any decision at all. Too many choices can make you less happy.

There’s a famous experiment about jams conducted by psychologists from Columbia and Stanford University, which I’ll link below the video. They went to a local food market and set up a table with 24 different kinds of jams one day, and then set up the table with only 6 kinds of jams another day.

Amazingly, while the table with more jams generated more interest, the table with fewer jams generated more sales. Too many options made the customers choose nothing at all.

Not only that, but the customers who did buy from the big display of jams had lower satisfaction than the customers who bought from the smaller display. Too many choices can actually demotivate the customer.

So what can you do, Life Editor? Here are 3 quick and easy ways to help you defeat your decision fatigue.

1. Narrow Your Choices

Create some kind of boundary or limit on the number of choices that you have in front of you.

It’ll cause less stress, and you’ll be able to make an objective choice without feeling overwhelmed.

For example, instead of looking at your bucket list and choosing your next vacation from the dozens of places you want to visit in your lifetime, just pick between the top 2 locations on your list.

You’ll be happier if you don’t consider every option.

2. Choose a Push Goal

The concept of a Push Goal is from fitness entrepreneur Chalene Johnson, and it’s the goal that once completed makes all of your other goals possible or much easier to achieve.

Like a row of dominoes standing on end, when you push the first one, all the others come crashing down. When you choose a Push Goal, your decision becomes obvious.

Ask yourself, “Which one of these choices directly affects my Push Goal? What option will make everything else easier?”

For example, your Push Goal might be to earn $1000 per month through your business because it will make all your other goals easier (such as providing for your family and taking control of your time).

What decision is slowing you down lately? Leave a comment and let me know.

3. Set a Timer for 10 Minutes

This is a no-brainer way to stop the freezing up you may be feeling.

Set a timer for 10 minutes and force yourself to make a decision within those 10 minutes. When you use a timer you can’t overthink it.

You have to make a decision right then and there without questioning yourself and without getting caught up in your perfectionism.

Perfectionism will slow you down every time, especially when you want things to be just right. This is the real world, and not all of your choices are going to be perfect. Your choice just has to be “OK” and then you move on.

Yep, you’re going to make the wrong choice sometimes, and you won’t realize that until later. You will survive, I promise.

Making decisions can be tough, and you can’t always predict what will happen in the future. But I know without a doubt that making any decision, even a wrong one, is infinitely better than making no decision at all.

Your life is too important to be apathetic.

That’s it! This week, defeat your decision fatigue by narrowing your choices, choosing a Push Goal, and working with a timer.

If you like this video, please hit that subscribe button. Then come on over to SageGrayson.com and sign up for my free Editor’s Toolkit to get dozens of worksheets to help you edit your life make better decisions.

Thanks for watching. I’ll see you soon.

This post focuses on Step 2 of the Life Editing Process, Delete Bad Influences. For more about life editing and what it can do for you, click here.

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