Making good decisions at the right time, with aligned energy is key to succeeding in business
I came across a term when I was reading about business, what else? That really got me excited just because it’s a validation for me of the way I used to behave when I was growing my practice. And that term is decision fatigue. What is decision fatigue? Decision fatigue is when we are so exhausted from making decisions that we really don’t wanna think about. One more thing, and that used to happen for me when I was growing my clinical practices. I was in clinics thinking about my patients, making choices and decisions about my patients and about the business. And then when I got home, I was exhausted. And the last thing I wanted to do was think about what to cook. I just did not have that energy in the tank, if you like. And that’s why, after really just suffering a little bit and my poor family suffering, I just made a choice to set the menu for the week at the beginning of the week. And so we always had jacket potatoes on a Monday, pasta on a Tuesday, curry on a Wednesday. You get the picture, right guys? And it just saved me from becoming even more exhausted. And decision fatigue is a real thing, and the reservoir, the energy that we need to make decisions from that reservoir is the same reservoir of energy that we concentrate with. That’s required for focus for willpower. So if you’ve be making big decisions or just lots of little decisions all day long, by the end of your day, you’re probably exhausted and that reservoir, which is not limitless, guys, it’s not limitless, just becomes empty, you become depleted. And from that place where your energy is depleted, you cannot make good decisions. So if you are hiring somebody in your interview and you’ve had a very, very exhausting day, or if you need to make investment decisions for your business and you make them when you are suffering from decision fatigue, chances are that those decisions may not be the best decisions. So, what can you do to protect yourself? Well, the first thing is to recognise that this is a thing, decision fatigue exists, and it’s a thing, especially for us, business owners, and especially if you’re doing something else in your business. If you have another role, for example, I’m an optometrist, so I was doing eye clinics as well as running my business. And I know that there are lots of practitioners out there who do the same thing, dentists, pharmacists, osteopaths, lawyers, yeah? So, we’re all doing something else in relation to running our business. Taxi drivers, yeah? There’s lots and lots of professions where the professional is also a business owner. Oh, that’s my dog in the background that you can hear. I may be see… Anyway, so what can we do to protect our energy? Well, for me, I start my day off in a good way with lots of holistic practices like meditation and walking with the dog, and really filling up that reserve, if you like. But I also make a conscious choice, to plan certain things into the diary, which I know require a lot more from me. And I did that intuitively, I just didn’t realise that it was because of decision fatigue and my experience with it, that I was… that I’d gotten into this habit and good habits which help you conserve your energy are so, so important. So apparently, Barack Obama only ever wore blue or grey suits, so he didn’t have to decide, and went to the gym every morning at 7:30, had breakfast at a specific time. And it’s really because so he was set, so you didn’t have to make decisions about those things, which would then exhaust him, and left his mind free and more able to make the more important decisions about how to run the country. So that’s really what I wanted to share with you today. And I would love to know if you have experienced decision fatigue now that you recognise, perhaps, what it is, and what steps could you take, or have you taken, to help you cope wi