Making decisions is exhausting. And research has shown that when we have to make too many decisions we become tired. As a result we tend to make poorer decisions as the day goes on. It's called decision-making fatigue and it's the reason why you should make all of your most important decisions earlier in the day. (Tierney, 2011)
But
since we can't always choose when we make a decision we sometimes have to make
them when we are tired. So what do we do
then? We look for a shortcut of course.
There
are several to choose from.
A
common one is to settle for a recommended option. This is why after you buy that expensive iPhone
you say yes when they ask if you want to buy insurance, even though buying
insurance is usually not the best decision.
Another
shortcut is to simply make a snap decision on impulse. This is why you end up reaching for a candy
bar when you are stressed. Your brain
shuts off long-term goals and fires up short term gratification, and you react
accordingly.
Since
most decisions are complex and involve multiple variables sometimes we try to
make it easier on ourselves by just considering one dimension. This happens often with voting. We become one issue voters and pick
candidates based on where they stand on that one issue and ignore any other
positions they take - even if we don't agree with them.
Similarly
we can let someone else decide for us.
When we do that we are assuming of course that the person we let decide
is an authority on the matter at hand.
But sometimes we misjudge.
Which
leads to the final shortcut - doing nothing.
Yes,
sometimes we choose to do nothing. But
even that is doing something since you are choosing to maintain the status quo
in the face of changing circumstances.
Which
brings us back to the original question - which decision-making shortcut is
your favorite? And is using it helping you to make good decisions or bad ones?
Tierney,
J. (2011, August 17) Do You Suffer From
Decision Fatigue? nytimes.com. Retrieved March
20, 2019, from
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