I used to enjoy playing Solitaire on my phone when I was stuck waiting around for something. Then the sheer number of decisions I have to make in every game hit me. I was depleting my decision fluid for no reason other than boredom. Now I only play a game or two before bed while listening to podcasts.
Several studies have shown that we are capable of only a limited number of good decisions. Being forced to make too many decisions or to acquiesce to the decisions of others can degrade our decision making and ability to control our impulses. Keep that in mind when you consider that we make 35,000 decisions every day.
There’s even a name for this phenomenon: “Decision Fatigue.” Decision Fatigue is “no reflection on the intention, intelligence or effort of the decision-maker, but a simple result of depletion of the brain’s resources. After a barrage of choices, people are simply unable to rationally evaluate the choices at hand,” according to Kate Huley. In other words, we run out of decision fluid and need time to refuel.
Decision Fatigue applies to every aspect of our lives, even politics.
And while Huley states that more consequential decisions deplete our decision fluid more quickly than less impactful ones, every decision takes its toll.