Episode 16 – Drowning in Decisions? How to Escape the Decision Fatigue Trap

Todd Bertsch: 0:10

Welcome back to the BOLT Podcast. I’m Todd Bertsch and I’m thrilled to be your guide on this inspiring journey of personal growth and leadership. Together with my guests, we’ll dive into transformational stories, uncovering how small, intentional changes can create massive positive results in your life From overcoming challenges and setting impactful goals to building lasting habits and living with confidence, health and positivity. We’ll explore it all and if you’re ready to embrace a growth mindset and unlock the best version of yourself, then let’s spark that transformation today. Hey everyone, I’m excited about this episode. This week, we’re going to really talk about and dig into decision fatigue and yes, this is a real thing, right. So we’re going to discuss how to escape the decision fatigue trap.

Todd Bertsch: 1:01

You ever spend hours agonizing over what to wear like for a networking event or a dinner date, only to settle on your usual jeans and black t-shirt Well, I do that a lot. Or maybe you find yourself just paralyzed by the endless options at the grocery store, defaulting to that same box of cereal you always buy. Well, this isn’t laziness, it’s decision fatigue. Check out this stat. Did you know that various sources suggest the average adult makes over 30,000 decisions a day? Yeah, 30,000. That’s a lot, right. No wonder we’re just burned out.

Todd Bertsch: 1:41

Decision fatigue is a psychological concept that describes how many small decisions can lead to mental and physical exhaustion and impaired judgment. It can happen when we are making decisions that impact others, are in difficult situations or just have too many damn options. So why does decision fatigue happen? Anyone can experience this, but it’s most likely to occur when these things happen. Anyone can experience this, but it’s most likely to occur when these things happen when you make a lot of decisions every day, especially if you’re in a leadership role or if you’re a parent right, your decisions impact other people. Or if you’re in the midst of a difficult life situation like divorce or grieving. If you’re faced with uncertainty, you may have perfectionist tendencies. Yep guilty.

Todd Bertsch: 2:28

When we set perfection as the standard for everything and overanalyze each detail to the nth degree, it can become mentally exhausting and depleting. This constant striving for flawlessness places undue pressure on our brain, leaving us drained and overwhelmed. Another thing is being overcommitted. So think about this Does everything in your life align with your personal mission and your vision? If not, cut it loose man Free up your mind. So look, the more decisions we make, the harder it becomes to make good ones. Our willpower is like a muscle after working out, it gets worn down. This can lead to a cascade of negative effects, from unhealthy snacking to impulse shopping, to simply giving up on making any decisions at all. Sound familiar.

Todd Bertsch: 3:24

So here are some of the symptoms of decision fatigue. Can you relate to any of these? Are you feeling any of these right now? Procrastination, brain fog, stress, anxiety, overwhelmed, difficulty making decisions or rash decisions, impulse buying, exhaustion and regret. I mean, that’s a lot of symptoms, right? And these suck, am I right? These aren’t good.

Todd Bertsch: 3:52

As a leader, a manager, a parent, we have so many choices to make on a daily basis. You know, there are days when I come home and I just can’t make another decision. You know my wife asked me honey, what’s for dinner? I’m like, hey, whatever you want, you make the call, I just can’t. I can’t make another decision. I’m toast and that’s real.

Todd Bertsch: 4:14

So why are we so bombarded with all these choices in the first place? Well, our modern world thrives on endless customization and variety, from seemingly mundane what kind of milk to buy? To the life-altering what career path should we choose? We’re constantly presented with options. While this freedom can feel empowering at times, it does come with a cost. You know, the internet is wonderful. It’s great, it’s changed our life forever. But it can provide so many options, especially when shopping Ever get Amazon shopping reviews fatigue. I know, I have right. There’s so many reviews. Which ones are right? Half of them are two-star, half of them are four-star, half of them are positive reviews. The other half are negative reviews.

Todd Bertsch: 5:08

What do you do? Which product should you buy? You know, last year I finally bought a portable sauna and for two years I have been researching this. I looked at all these reviews. I saw an ad on Facebook last year and I’m like, all right, I’m just going to pull the trigger, I’m just going to do it. I have perfectionist syndrome. I want it to be the absolute, perfect purchase. But at that point I was just fatigued out at looking at all the reviews. It was stressing me out and here I want to buy something that’s actually going to help me make me a better person mentally, physically. So you know, there’s so many options and reviews. I just couldn’t do it, but I was paralyzed. But finally last year I just pulled the trigger and I’m happy. You know, I got the right sauna. But that’s just a real-world example.

Todd Bertsch: 5:58

I’m sure you guys are feeling some of the same things, especially now around Christmas time. Right, there are so many options. What to buy? Should I wrap it, should I not? If I do wrap it, what color of wrapping paper should I use? Should I wrap myself, or should I pay to have customer service wrap it? Or should I put it in a bag? Well, if I put it in a gift bag, what kind of gift bag? And should I put paper in there or not? You know, it’s just endless. It goes on and on and it is nice to have options, but at some point it’s just too many. And you can see here like this is real, decision fatigue is real, and that’s why I wanted to do an episode on it, like I felt it myself.

Todd Bertsch: 6:38

So there’s a guy, barry Shorts. He’s a psychologist and author and he coined the term choice overload and this is a phenomenon that he calls the paradox of choice. So he’s got a great book. Check it out. It’s called the paradox of choice why more is less, and I love that title. It’s a great book, highly recommend it. In Barry’s book he talks about how we assume that more choices mean better options and greater satisfaction.

Todd Bertsch: 7:05

But beware of excessive choice. Choice overload can make you question the decisions you make before you even make them. It can set you up for unrealistically high expectations and can make you blame yourself for any and all failures. In the long run this can lead to decision-making paralysis and anxiety and perpetual stress. In a culture that tells us that there is no excuse for falling short of perfection when your options are limitless, too much choice can lead to clinical depression. It can affect our mental health. That’s how serious this is. So there is some hope.

Todd Bertsch: 7:48

I found this research on Trader Joe’s a couple of years ago and I just loved it and I just held on to it and then I was thinking about doing an episode on this. I’m like, ah, perfect, I finally get to use this. So I don’t know if you’re familiar with Trader Joe’s. It’s a grocery store. We don’t have one here like super local. I have to drive like 30, 40 miles. I’ve never actually been to one, but I have a few friends that absolutely love it. But I want to share this bit of research. So if only more companies operated like this.

Todd Bertsch: 8:17

And here’s their philosophy. So Trader Joe’s grocery stores. They’ve removed choice overload from their stores. According to a Columbia University study, traditional American grocery stores. Like most of your local stores, they offer an average of more than 35,000 options, but Trader Joe’s offers about 3,000. That’s 11 times less than most grocery stores. That’s crazy, right? This approach limits brain fatigue, customer’s experience from choice overload and it helps control costs. Like it’s a good business decision and they’ve done quite well with this philosophy. So you know there is hope. Maybe other stores you know will think about adopting this philosophy, but anyhow. So we’re still going to be bombarded with lots of choices.

Todd Bertsch: 9:16

But, good news, there are some ways to overcome decision fatigue and we’re going to run through these right now, and these are great. The first one here is simplify your routines. So create some defaults for everyday decisions, like have a go-to breakfast. If you read or listen to many of successful people in business, they eat the same thing every single day. It makes sense. It’s one less decision that you have to make. I have literally two or three go-to things that I eat. Sometimes I don’t even eat breakfast, but it’s something to consider. This thing really works. Now this next one I absolutely love.

Todd Bertsch: 9:54

So a few years ago, meta Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was in the headlines because he told an interviewer that he has a closet full of the same t-shirts. He explained that dressing the same way every day allows him to save his mental capacity for making more significant decisions at work. Brilliant, right. And I wonder why? You know, I always see him like oh, he’s always got that black t-shirt on. This guy’s a you know billionaire. Why is he wearing the same thing? Well, yeah, because he’s super smart and he realized it’s one less thing that he has to worry about, right? Even Obama, he wore the same blue and gray suits while being the president. It allowed him to reduce his daily choices and create some space for bigger decisions that were really important, right? So this does work and people are using this.

Todd Bertsch: 10:48

Honestly, I’m a little too stylish for that routine. I, like you, know style and dressing. I don’t know that I want to wear the same thing, although I do wear the same Bolt t-shirts when I’m doing Bolt’s podcast activities. But you know, I’m too. I am too stylish. I like design, but one thing that I do is I prepare my outfit the night before. I started doing this a few years ago and, oh my gosh, like it just saves me so much mental capacity in the morning, so I don’t have to think about it. You know, I looked at the weather, cause we’re in the Midwest, so we really in Ohio, we really have to think about the weather because that’s likely going to dictate what our outfit is. But I lay it out the night before I get up and it’s ready to go. And it does work. It helps. It’s one less decision that I have to make in the morning, all right. So here’s another one. I love this one Schedule decision making.

Todd Bertsch: 11:42

Set aside specific times to tackle bigger choices when you’re mentally fresh. For me that’s in the morning. So I have a window right After my morning meditation and my morning walk and I get to the office 8 to 10, that’s it. That’s my block. That’s when I’m really looking to make bigger decisions. So think about that. Find your rhythm. What’s a good time for you?

Todd Bertsch: 12:07

Another option is to batch similar decisions together, like plan your meals for the week at once or return multiple items at the store in one trip, or another thing I do when I’m running errands. I think about okay, if I need to get some batteries for my watch and I need to get something from the drugstore and I need to get gas, I try to group that together and plan it. So they’re all three right there. It’s one less thing. I get in the car and I just boop, boop, boop, I go and I’m done. So I don’t know, maybe I plan too much, but this batching it does work. So something to think about.

Todd Bertsch: 12:44

Another option is to limit the number of big decisions you make per day. So I don’t know if you’re in a leadership role, entrepreneur, small business owner or even a parent, you might not have the option for that right. Just some days you got to make them. You can’t just say, oh man, I don’t want to make this decision today, but it’s something to think about. Right, if you can limit the number of big decisions, you know, maybe you can do that. And also, you know, plan ahead, do your research. It’s a good reminder, right?

Todd Bertsch: 13:16

The next one is take a break. Go outside, take a short walk, get off your computer screen, get off your phone, go to the park, allow nature to help reset. You Love this one. I don’t do it enough, but I love it. It’s on my list for next year. Now here’s another one. I love this one. This one is probably the hardest one for me personally. Learn to say no. Don’t feel obligated to weigh in on every single decision. It’s okay to defer or delegate, right. Just say no. The next one ask for help from a colleague or from your partner or spouse. Do you really need to make all the decisions? This could be a great opportunity, a great coaching moment. You know awesome leaders. Look for these moments. These moments can empower your team, encourage them to fail, grow, learn right.

Todd Bertsch: 14:19

The next one here it’s a no-brainer but good reminder prioritize sleep and hydration. A well-rested mind is better equipped to handle decision-making right. I think that goes without saying, and anybody that knows me knows I’m a big proponent of tracking sleep. I got my aura ring right here. I’ve had this since COVID. Oh man, I love this. So I’m really looking to get six and a half seven solid hours of sleep, and I started off with five hours three years ago, so anyhow. But yes, a well-rested mind is definitely a good place to start. And being well hydrated I mean water, like drinking. You know stats say 91 to 125 ounces a day, depending on your age or your gender. You got to drink water and you got to get good sleep. This is going to help you make good decisions and just good thing to do in general. Right, all right. I don’t know if you can hear the sirens, but sirens are going. So this is the beauty of having your studio close to downtown, of having your studio close to downtown.

Todd Bertsch: 15:23

Anyhow, this last one you’ve heard me talk about this in just about every episode in some form or some manner positive mindset, right, having a positive mindset will, just plain out, help you make better decisions. You’re gonna be more open-minded, you’re gonna be more curious. You’re going to be more open-minded, you’re going to be more curious. You’re not going to be judgmental. Right, you’re going to come in to a conversation, a scenario, a situation and find the gift and opportunity right and allow you to make a better decision. So there you go, folks.

Todd Bertsch: 16:01

Yes, this is a real thing decision fatigue. There’s symptoms. So if you start to recognize those, maybe you know that’s a trigger and you can say, okay, I’m feeling it, maybe I need to take a step back and try. You know one of these ways to overcome it. But you know. In summary, you know by recognizing decision fatigue and taking steps to manage it, we can make better choices for ourselves and avoid getting bogged down by the overload.

Todd Bertsch: 16:29

Remember, sometimes the most empowering decision is to decide, not to decide at all who would have thunk. The more decisions you make, the worse your decisions are. Your brain only has so much energy each day. Spend it wisely. I know you have many choices in the realm of podcasts and you chose to listen to mine. I’m grateful for that Good choice. Thank you. I’ll check you out next time. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Bolt Podcast. You’re on an inspiring journey of growth, transformation and joy and I’m honored to be a part of it. If you found this episode valuable, please like, share it with your friends and consider leaving a review. It means the world to us For show notes, resources and to subscribe to the weekly Motivational Monday newsletter. Please visit ToddBertsch.com and don’t forget to follow us on social media @ theBoltwithToddB for more inspiration. Remember, real change doesn’t happen overnight. Folks Start small, stay consistent and watch as your growth unfolds. See you next time. Thank you.