Decision fatigue can kill your motivation, productivity, willpower, mood, and energy. We are constantly bombarded with requests for our time and our attention. Other people, emails, businesses, social media, family, and friends are all competing for our attention - and this can leave us with some serious decision fatigue. If you don’t learn to proactively protect yourself against decision fatigue - you’ll fail to get the most progress out of your time and your days. Listen up to learn what decision fatigue is and how to prevent it from sabotaging your success
Master Your Morning, Master Your Day. Download our Master Your Morning Routine at https://www.menmadeformore.com/master-your-morning to learn the 7 Power Strategies to take charge of your day from the moment you wake up to bring more focus, energy, clarity, and confidence to your day.
I love hearing from you guys and what you’re learning from the show. Shoot me a DM on Instagram at @DrDavePac or text me at (760) 477-4361 and let me know your biggest takeaway from today’s listen.
Decision fatigue can kill your motivation, productivity, willpower, mood, and energy. We are constantly bombarded with requests for our time and our attention. Other people, emails, businesses, social media, family, and friends are all competing for our attention - and this can leave us with some serious decision fatigue. If you don’t learn to proactively protect yourself against decision fatigue - you’ll fail to get the most progress out of your time and your days. Listen up to learn what decision fatigue is and how to prevent it from sabotaging your success
Master Your Morning, Master Your Day. Download our Master Your Morning Routine at https://www.menmadeformore.com/master-your-morning to learn the 7 Power Strategies to take charge of your day from the moment you wake up to bring more focus, energy, clarity, and confidence to your day.
I love hearing from you guys and what you’re learning from the show. Shoot me a DM on Instagram at @DrDavePac or text me at (760) 477-4361 and let me know your biggest takeaway from today’s listen.
Men Made For More Podcast Episode 142: Combatting Decision Fatigue
Decision fatigue can kill your motivation, productivity, willpower, mood, and energy. We are constantly bombarded with requests for our time and our attention. Other people, emails, businesses, social media, family, and friends are all competing for our attention - and this can leave us with some serious decision fatigue. If you don’t learn to proactively protect yourself against decision fatigue - you’ll fail to get the most progress out of your time and your days. Listen up to learn what decision fatigue is and how to prevent it from sabotaging your success
Master Your Morning, Master Your Day. Download our Master Your Morning Routine at https://www.menmadeformore.com/master-your-morning to learn the 7 Power Strategies to take charge of your day from the moment you wake up to bring more focus, energy, clarity, and confidence to your day.
I love hearing from you guys and what you’re learning from the show. Shoot me a DM on Instagram at @DrDavePac or text me at (760) 477-4361 and let me know your biggest takeaway from today’s listen.
Men Made For More Podcast Episode 142: Combatting Decision Fatigue
[00:00:00] Dave: Hey there mighty man. I'm your host, Dr. Dave Paczkowski founder of Men Made For More coaching, our business helps husbands level up their life. Their leadership and their legacy in marriage and in business. The purpose of this podcast is to bring together like-minded men that feel destined for big things in their life to provide you the resources and community that you need to lead yourself, your family and your business.
[00:00:27] If you've ever felt overwhelmed, frustrated, lost, or alone on your journey to a better and more purposeful life, you're in the right spot. You weren't designed to be average. So it's time to quit living that way today. I'm giving you permission to unlock your true potential and step into all that you were made for.
[00:00:45]
[00:00:45] What's up guys, welcome to today's episode of the men made for more podcast. I am stoked to have you guys here with me. Uh, I always love being able to pour into you guys pour into your growth, and I'm just [00:01:00] thankful that you guys are investing in improving yourself in whatever area that is that you're trying to.
[00:01:05] And today we are going to talk all about decision fatigue and how to combat this. And if you don't know what decision fatigue is, you will hear in a few minutes. But decision fatigue is something that is, is plaguing a lot of people today because we're just, we're, we're getting bombarded constantly with, uh, other requests for our time and our attention and decision fatigue and kill your motivation, your productivity, your willpower, your mood, your energy, because other people and emails and businesses and social media and TV and family and friends, they're all competing for our attention.
[00:01:41] And this isn't a bad thing, but if we're not careful, this can leave us with some serious decision fatigue. And if you don't learn to proactively protect yourself against this fatigue, then you're going to fail to get the most progress out of your time and out of your days. And I know that sounds probably a little extreme, but when these things happen day in, day out [00:02:00] for weeks, months, years at a time.
[00:02:01] This is where we get people looking back and wondering how the last couple months, or last couple of years got away from them. So this is important guys, to be proactive with important to, uh, continue to be aware of so that you can address it. So listen up here for, uh, as we dive into what decision fatigue is and how can we prevent it from sabotaging your success.
[00:02:23] So first off, what is it? What is decision fatigue? It's really just our ability to make decisions deteriorates over the course of a day. And we can only, we can only make so many decisions in a day. I should say, step back. We can make the decisions, but we're going to make so many quality decisions in a day.
[00:02:41] We can only be so fresh for those decisions. And I'm sure you guys have experienced this many times, maybe whether you know it or whether you don't, but this is a finite amount of, of quality decisions we can make. And this is often subconscious. I don't, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I've, I've heard they're insane in terms of how many [00:03:00] decisions we have to make over the course of a day.
[00:03:02] And this could be something as little as, what am I going to wear today? What should I, what should I eat? Uh, what, you know, where are we, where are we going to? Where are we going to go for, for dinner? What, uh, you know, business decisions, what am I, what am I going to say to this person? What am I going to reply to this person?
[00:03:17] Oh, someone else asks us about plans. What are we going to. What should we do with that? Should we say yes. Should we say no? And this is just a subconscious thing that happens all day from our family, from our friends, uh, from our work, all these things. And this is so important because if we're not careful, our motivation can take a hit.
[00:03:35] Uh, it's gonna, it's gonna affect our ability to stay motivated. If we have to answer a thousand decisions before noon, how's our motivation going to be for the afternoon, same thing with productivity, same thing with willpower, with our mood. Uh, I don't know if you guys have felt it, but when you get bombarded with these things, it makes you more stressed.
[00:03:54] It makes you more, uh, it's totally gonna affect our mood and how we're showing up in our relationships. It's going to affect your energy, [00:04:00] having to make these decisions, even small decisions, a lot of small decisions stacked up will cause us to be more fatigued, actually affects our blood sugar will affect our energy.
[00:04:09] You'll find yourself yawning and mid-morning and reaching for that other cup of coffee, which then has its consequences when you consume too much of that. And when all these things are affected, the motivation and productivity and willpower and mood and energy, this is gonna affect your creativity. Your relationships and your forward progress.
[00:04:28] And that's why it's so important to, to guard it, to guard these decisions. And this happens, how does it happen in the first place? It happens from mindless checks of our phone emails, poor boundaries, incoming requests, all these things can, can play a role. And I'm sure you guys can relate to, uh, to this example at the end of a stressful work day, where you've had to maybe answer loud decisions or had to respond to a ton of emails and respond to other people's requests.
[00:04:54] At the end of the, at the end of the day, at the end of a week, even. What do you find yourself reaching [00:05:00] for food wise, drink wise, Netflix and chill. Like these are the things that are, is, are signals from our body of just being so exhausted that we don't want to have to make another decision. So our willpower slips, we reach for food that we wouldn't normally eat during the week or a drink when we're trying not to, or, you know, Binge out on, uh, a Netflix or something when we'd rather be reading and prioritize in our sleep, we don't make as good decisions.
[00:05:25] The, uh, the more that this, this builds up and there's ways to restore it, there's ways, uh, to restore it that, uh, we'll talk about here in a minute, but that's, uh, that's the same reason that, uh, Mark Zuckerberg says that he, uh, he wears the same. Close every day or certain days a week, because it's one less decision he has to make.
[00:05:43] And I'm not saying to go, go that route. That's probably extreme for a lot of people, but look at, look at your schedule and see what decisions you, uh, you can put on autopilot, so to speak, uh, so that, uh, So that you don't get, uh, don't get worn down by this decision fatigue. [00:06:00] So let's talk about some strategies here and give you guys some practical and tactical things that you guys can actually implement to.
[00:06:06] Now that you're more aware of it to prevent this from becoming a thing from not being reactive to it, but actually being proactive with it. So, first thing, make sure to protect your most important time blocks. And this, uh, this is extremely important. Something that, uh, I've done a lot of reflection on myself.
[00:06:24] Uh, can, uh, we break down with a lot of our clients in terms of when are you most productive and what is your highest value, your highest return tasks you want to identify when it is, and you want to block distractions during that time. So once you identify it and once you know what your highest level activities are, Protect those times if, uh, you know, if you're a business owner and you need a, and maybe marketing's your, your highest return or you need to be sharp for sales calls, or maybe it's just vision and direction and leadership of the company.
[00:06:54] If, if nine to one is your, your most productive time, don't be responding to emails then, and don't be [00:07:00] checking your phone and doing things that don't fall into that. That's an easy way to do that. Same thing with our relationships. If you're trying to invest in a relationship. Don't pick the time where you're the most tired.
[00:07:10] If, if the end of the day you're super tired and worn down, like maybe do a morning coffee instead when you're sharper and fresher and can really pour into that relationship. So make sure you're protecting those important time blocks and not letting other things inside of that. Uh, when possible, don't start your day.
[00:07:26] Browsing social media checking email. Our phones are some of the worst enemies in terms of, uh, in terms of this, this decision fatigue, you open your phone, you see all the little notification signs. You have seven texts to respond to. You have a bunch of emails that popped up overnight. You have the social media pings that are hitting you.
[00:07:45] What do you check first? And then you check and you respond and you get caught down other rabbit holes. This is going to wear you down guys, whether you realize it or not. So protect your, protect your phone time as well. Make sure this, uh, not going too late into the day. Don't start your day with it. If you can.
[00:07:59] Uh, if at any [00:08:00] cost you can delay checking, email, checking, phone, checking, some of those things, make sure to do that. Or if you do have to check it. Go directly into the things that you do have to check. Maybe you need to check your text messages, but natural email, open up your text messages, screen it, reply to what you need to, and then don't go down the rabbit hole of your phone though, jumping into email and social media and those other things.
[00:08:21] Another way to kind of take this next level. If you need to, if you're really struggling with willpower, put actual blockers on a there's different apps out there. I used to have called freedom app. I was one of use in the past, and there's different ways to, I think some of the phones just naturally have this stuff built in now to, uh, that you can actually block sites or limit the amount of time that you're doing on that.
[00:08:40] So that's another strategy. If you guys need more help, uh, like I mentioned, a few minutes a year ago, another strategy. Put things in autopilot that you can put on autopilot. Uh, some people don't like the mundane or the routine of, of you and the same thing every day, but I find a lot of freedom and, and breakfast and lunch bean, the same thing every day.
[00:09:00] [00:08:59] And, uh, again, fine. Find what's what works for you. What's, what's normal for me might be extreme for you and, and vice versa. So whatever that is, if it's, uh, if it's food choices, you can, you can put it on autopilot meal prepping and doing those things. If it's, uh, you know, certain schedules that at a certain time of the day, you're always doing certain things.
[00:09:19] You're, you're checking email at certain times, schedule those things in so that you can teach your body to. Uh, to operate in a way that, uh, isn't jumping all over the place and always having to make decisions of, well, what am I going to do next? And what am I going to do next? And having a proper plan in place for this ahead of time is one of the best way, ways to proactively avoid that next strategy.
[00:09:41] Make sure, yeah. You're making your most important decisions when you're decision fatigue is lowest and I can't stress this enough because noticing I said most important decisions that doesn't always mean the most urgent. You're going to get plenty of urgent strategies, uh, urgent requests, urgent things that are going to pop into your day.
[00:10:00] [00:09:59] But if you just become reactive and respond to the most urgent things, you're going to sacrifice what's most important. So make sure that you're identifying when your decision fatigue is lowest and, um, making sure you're, you're making those decisions decisions then, and this can be, uh, things with, with your family of, uh, talking about how to, how to raise kids and how to.
[00:10:20] You know how to build relationship with your spouse and do those things. Don't do that when you're super fatigued, cause that's going to cause more stress, more, uh, more things that are going to be actually harmful instead of, uh, instead of productive those business and work decisions that are most important.
[00:10:34] Are your health, fitness, eating choices. Like we talked about, if you can do this the day before of plan out, okay. You know exactly when you're going to the gym, you know what you're having for breakfast and lunch. You're going to be so much more successful. If you can plan that out and do that when you're fresh, so that you have a plan going into it and that you can actually stick to it versus bouncing back and forth about when you're gonna actually do that.
[00:10:56] An overarching theme with all this last, uh, last strategy [00:11:00] have for you guys is whatever that is for you have a plan and stick to it. It's gonna look different person to person, but the most important thing is to plan, plan this in be aware of it, use strategies that, uh, can help you make those important decisions when you're freshest.
[00:11:16] Do your highest creative work when you're the freshest, make those big decisions when you're the freshest. And if you need to recharge, take a nap, take a walk, do some of those things that can help replenish some of this. So guys, there's some practical strategies for you guys. Uh, this is something that I've found so much success with personally, with so many coaching clients.
[00:11:33] Once we can bring awareness to this and start to address this proactively. Energy is better. Productivity is better willpower, mood, relationships, all those things that are most important for us. So your take action takeaway today, your action step is to first just take inventory. Where, where are you making decisions and where you experiencing this fatigue without even realizing it.
[00:11:55] And if you're already aware of it, What are some ways you can tighten up a little bit? What are some [00:12:00] plans you can have in place that will help with this? So guys go and implement this, uh, take it, take it all into account. Find what works for your life and, uh, apply where you need to. If you guys want a little guidance on how to, uh, manage your energy a little better.
[00:12:15] And, uh, the morning routine, the morning mindset, uh, that I use personally. And, uh, we recommend for all of our clients, I got that free download for you guys as well. In the show notes, it's master your morning mindset. It's a free download that talks about the seven power strategies we use to start our day.
[00:12:31] In order to set us up for success in some of these areas. So make sure to go check that out. And as always guys, you have my contact info, my Instagram DMS in the show notes there, my cell numbers in the show notes there. If you guys want to text me, shoot me. Any feedback, love hearing from you guys love, hearing what you guys are taken.
[00:12:47] Upline, what topics you want to see more of love. Uh, continuing the dialogue off the show here. So guys go crush the day. Thanks for investing yourself. I'm happy to be a part of it. And I'll talk to you guys soon.
[00:12:58]
[00:12:58] Thanks for listening today, [00:13:00] guys, unbelieving that even if you apply one thing from today's show, you're taking one step closer to living as the man you were made to be meaningful change doesn't happen overnight. So keep showing up and keep consistent every single day until good things start to happen.
[00:13:15] If you haven't already taken 60 seconds to write a review on whatever platform you're listening on, goes a long way in growing this podcast and reaching other men, just like you, that are hungry for more in their life. Do you have any questions on today's show feedback or content you want to see more of shoot me a text.
[00:13:32] Yeah, text me (760) 477-4361 at (760) 477-4361. Let me know that you're listening to it. And so I can personally thank you for your support of myself and the show. That's it for today, guys, it's time to raise your standard for yourself. Stop settling for just getting by, go all in on your passions in the Lightroom made for a lot of you guys and talk to you soon.