Don’t waste energy on small decisions, save it for the serious issues
Give me a Uniform by Geni Dee
I only have one hairstyle now. Hair tied back into a bun. Not very glamorous but quite efficient.
Being the mother of an infant just doesn’t allow me 20 minutes in the mornings to style my hair anymore. I was starting to worry that I was just getting really lazy, but then I decided to blame it on decision fatigue.
I am functioning at that state of tiredness where it takes me a very long time to make decisions about the basics in my life. So in an effort to remove insignificant problems I don’t spend more than a minute on my hair.
Decision fatigue is a very real condition, which suggests that your brain actually becomes tired from all the energy wasted on futile decisions, causing you to struggle to make decisions as your day progresses.
You then find it difficult to make informed decisions on important matters and you are also more likely to do impulsive buying as it affects your judgement and willpower.
I actually felt empowered once I realised people like Facebook CEO and founder, Mark Zuckerberg and former POTUS, Barack Obama also suffer from decision fatigue and try to minimise their exposure to rudimentary problems. Both of them only wear very specific outfits to work every day, as to not distract from the larger issues that they need to solve.
Zuckerberg, for instance only wears grey T-shirts and jeans every day and has been quoted saying: “I really want to clear my life to make it so that I have to make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best serve this community. Small decisions like choosing what to wear or what to eat for breakfast could be tiring and consume energy, and I don’t want to waste any time on that.”
Obama has also stated that he only wears grey or blue suits in an effort to pare down decisions, so that he can spend his time and energy on solving serious problems.
So I might not be a successful entrepreneur or running a country, but that is my defence and I’m sticking to it.
I look at how some women embrace motherhood, without skimping on their appearance and I am just in awe. Juggling motherhood responsibilities, having successful careers and looking fantastic.
They don’t need excuses like blaming their lack of hair care on a psychological term, they just do everything. I take my hat off to those moms.
But if there are any moms out there who like me, also feel a little overwhelmed at times, you can just jump on my decision fatigue bandwagon. We can all take a page out of the Zuckerberg and Obama books to try and simplify our problems.
That will be my approach until I can actually get a handle on styling my hair in the mornings again. I might even start wearing a type of signature outfit or “uniform” to work if I really want to take this to the next level. Who’s with me?!
