I’ve often wondered why checking your emails in the morning before you start work saps your energy. it appears to be a simple enough little task. But when you realise that you’re making decisions about every single email you open, you can suddenly see how decision fatigue can become a factor in your day even before you’ve started work proper.
I am most successful when I have set up habits that work. Yes, it takes a little time for any activity to become automatic, but once it’s an accepted part of your day there is very little decisionmaking to do. You just get on with the task at hand.
Going to the gym becomes easy. If you have it scheduled in and you go as a matter of course, that’s a whole lot of decisions you haven’t had to make. You want to have a protein-and-salad lunch every day? If you make it as part of your morning routine (or even the night before), it’s going to be a lot easier to eat well when the time rolls around to lunchtime.
In fact, even if it’s not all automatic, making decisions in advance can be a great help. (The automatic part is then following the plan you’ve written.) Meal planning—including having a good idea of what you’re going to do to cope with the office birthday party or the night out with friends—means you’re making considered decisions as well as saving time and effort. You can sit down and make all your decisions for the week, if that’s the way you like to roll. Then you have one piece of paper in the kitchen where all the decision making has been made. You feel so much lighter knowing that’s sorted. You know what to shop for as well. Otherwise just deciding the night before, perhaps soon after dinner or the last thing before bed, can also be successful. It becomes part of your nightly routine. Brush your teeth then sit on the side of the bed and jot down tomorrow’s must-dos and what you’re going to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner, then slide under the covers, turn off the light and sleep soundly. Tomorrow’s only decision for all those things will be to stick to the plan.
Losing weight, as hard as it can be, is the easy part. Lots of people can do that. The real success comes in keeping the weight off so you can go through life with the body you want, the health you want and a bit of self esteem intact. And if making your decisions in advance will do the trick, then I’m all for it. Putting yourself in the driver’s seat by putting things on automatic pilot might seem a contradiction in terms, but I say viva contradictions if they work!