Decision fatigue is why I don’t like grocery shopping. It feels like a weekly decision-a-thon. Admittedly because I was focusing on getting the best value on every item. . . maximizing quality and minimizing cost. I’ve made it easier by adopting Ramit Sethi’s philosophy about spending: Pay for quality on the things I care about and cut costs on everything else. I get my fancy Greek yogurt and get the cheapest frozen peas and I’m satisfied!
For big decisions I lean toward alignment. I did some reflection to articulate my values and staying grounded in them has eased the anxiety that can come with tough decisions. I shared the exercise I used (and that I’ve used with others) in this post.
Omg I feel your pain when it comes to grocery shopping, Femi! Love Ramit's philosophy, too. and alignment is so important. Thanks for sharing your values exercise!
The struggle is real Jonathan, you should see my tea cupboard 😂, and I can never decide what I want to eat and if I think about it, 70% of my day is spent on unproductive decision making on things that are so trivial and I wind up skimping on the important things. Thank you for sharing!
Jonathan – I really enjoyed your criteria for tackling decision fatigue. I picked up some additional cues for my own version. Thank you for sharing! I have a lifelong pattern of saying yes when it should be no, or simply not being conscious about decisions — it often doesn’t even feel like a choice; it just happens. Sometimes I find I'm physically and mentally disengaged from making active decisions.
To address this, I developed a decision matrix: in my quest to be more conscious, I stop, become aware, and then make an informed, in-the-moment decision that is more aligned with my values, vision, and priorities.
I want to do it all — but alas, I cannot, so I must ‘decide wise’. My matrix, in a nutshell: whenever a choice around time, attention, or a question arises, I run it through my decision matrix. Quick no’s are handled immediately. For everything else, I create space to sit with it, check in with my body, mind, and spirit, and allow myself to be guided accordingly.
My framework is:
1. Lean into my values — the deep beliefs that guide what I think and feel is important, and how I choose to live.
2. Leverage my vision for the future — a roadmap and visual tool for prioritizing (I invest significant time annually developing my vision for the year and beyond…I've got a 3 X 30 project on the go currently…thank you for that framework).
3. Say yes to what lights me up and is aligned with my values and vision — and no when it is a no (releasing the need to live with ongoing obligation or people-pleasing).
What a fun article, reminding us about decision-making.
With your background in this subject, I would like to see a story about the intersection of your 7 keys and artificial intelligence. I am a thinker and journalist, not a technology person. Through your eyes, where is AI taking over that 70-90% of decisions, and making it easier or worse?
If you do online shopping, the merchant (Amazon, Sprouts, Land's End, etc.) learns about your choices and then serves up lists the next time to help you buy more. I appreciate this with the groceries because I no longer have a grocery list. Instead of going into the story and exposing myself to the more than 30,000 items in the average store and impulse buying, there are only 15 things I normally get and I'm done. They trot it out to my car when I drive up. How about maps on your phone or in your car? You don't have to decide which route or buy a fold-out map at the gas station. The AI voice tells you when to turn and where to avoid the traffic. And that email marked URGENT, there are email filtering programs that learn your network, your communication strategies, who is important to you, and who has lower worth.
That's a really interesting "prompt," Georgia. And, as someone who embraced AI and has been deep into it since the early days of ChatGPT, we've woven it into nearly every element of our business, production, and workflow. It's made a huge different. And, at the same time, I think there's a balance we've got to explore. I sometimes worry what the longterm effect will be of offloading so much of our decision-making to AI that we begin to lose the capacity to do it, on almost any level, ourselves.
Yes and...My article today goes right to decision making, brain science, and the future of professionals and AI. Your experience and context is unique to you and that's why I encouraged you to walk out your topic further.
This is super-helpful. I spend way too much time deliberating and trying to access my true preference when it's just low-stakes decisions. These questions are going to free up time and some head space, for sure. Thanks.
Decision fatigue is why I don’t like grocery shopping. It feels like a weekly decision-a-thon. Admittedly because I was focusing on getting the best value on every item. . . maximizing quality and minimizing cost. I’ve made it easier by adopting Ramit Sethi’s philosophy about spending: Pay for quality on the things I care about and cut costs on everything else. I get my fancy Greek yogurt and get the cheapest frozen peas and I’m satisfied!
For big decisions I lean toward alignment. I did some reflection to articulate my values and staying grounded in them has eased the anxiety that can come with tough decisions. I shared the exercise I used (and that I’ve used with others) in this post.
https://open.substack.com/pub/abundantlyfemi/p/pillars-for-abundance-living?r=4h1bgc&utm_medium=ios
Omg I feel your pain when it comes to grocery shopping, Femi! Love Ramit's philosophy, too. and alignment is so important. Thanks for sharing your values exercise!
The struggle is real Jonathan, you should see my tea cupboard 😂, and I can never decide what I want to eat and if I think about it, 70% of my day is spent on unproductive decision making on things that are so trivial and I wind up skimping on the important things. Thank you for sharing!
So real, Samantha! It's just so easy to get caught up in the small stuff, and have little time and energy left for the things that truly matter.
Jonathan – I really enjoyed your criteria for tackling decision fatigue. I picked up some additional cues for my own version. Thank you for sharing! I have a lifelong pattern of saying yes when it should be no, or simply not being conscious about decisions — it often doesn’t even feel like a choice; it just happens. Sometimes I find I'm physically and mentally disengaged from making active decisions.
To address this, I developed a decision matrix: in my quest to be more conscious, I stop, become aware, and then make an informed, in-the-moment decision that is more aligned with my values, vision, and priorities.
I want to do it all — but alas, I cannot, so I must ‘decide wise’. My matrix, in a nutshell: whenever a choice around time, attention, or a question arises, I run it through my decision matrix. Quick no’s are handled immediately. For everything else, I create space to sit with it, check in with my body, mind, and spirit, and allow myself to be guided accordingly.
My framework is:
1. Lean into my values — the deep beliefs that guide what I think and feel is important, and how I choose to live.
2. Leverage my vision for the future — a roadmap and visual tool for prioritizing (I invest significant time annually developing my vision for the year and beyond…I've got a 3 X 30 project on the go currently…thank you for that framework).
3. Say yes to what lights me up and is aligned with my values and vision — and no when it is a no (releasing the need to live with ongoing obligation or people-pleasing).
I hear you, JT. I've been a yes to way too many things was well. Love your decision matrix, so fluid and sensible.
What a fun article, reminding us about decision-making.
With your background in this subject, I would like to see a story about the intersection of your 7 keys and artificial intelligence. I am a thinker and journalist, not a technology person. Through your eyes, where is AI taking over that 70-90% of decisions, and making it easier or worse?
If you do online shopping, the merchant (Amazon, Sprouts, Land's End, etc.) learns about your choices and then serves up lists the next time to help you buy more. I appreciate this with the groceries because I no longer have a grocery list. Instead of going into the story and exposing myself to the more than 30,000 items in the average store and impulse buying, there are only 15 things I normally get and I'm done. They trot it out to my car when I drive up. How about maps on your phone or in your car? You don't have to decide which route or buy a fold-out map at the gas station. The AI voice tells you when to turn and where to avoid the traffic. And that email marked URGENT, there are email filtering programs that learn your network, your communication strategies, who is important to you, and who has lower worth.
That's a really interesting "prompt," Georgia. And, as someone who embraced AI and has been deep into it since the early days of ChatGPT, we've woven it into nearly every element of our business, production, and workflow. It's made a huge different. And, at the same time, I think there's a balance we've got to explore. I sometimes worry what the longterm effect will be of offloading so much of our decision-making to AI that we begin to lose the capacity to do it, on almost any level, ourselves.
Yes and...My article today goes right to decision making, brain science, and the future of professionals and AI. Your experience and context is unique to you and that's why I encouraged you to walk out your topic further.
This is super-helpful. I spend way too much time deliberating and trying to access my true preference when it's just low-stakes decisions. These questions are going to free up time and some head space, for sure. Thanks.