Reduce Decision Fatigue by Creating Structure
Structure Creates Freedom and Success
Reduce your decision fatigue by creating structure in your life, which also creates freedom and success! Contrary to popular belief, the more structure you create in certain areas of your life, the more freedom you create in others. When you reduce the amount of decisions you need to make each day, you create space for more creativity, strategic thinking, and joy! So what structures help the most without making life groundhog day?
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Decision fatigue is real. From the daily decisions of what to eat, what to wear, what to do, to the larger decisions of where to live, what car to purchase, which job to take - all of these decisions take up valuable mental space and energy.
Our minds get tired from overuse the same way our muscles do. It is why most of you have already given up on your New Year's resolutions. It isn't some moral failing or weakness - it is normal human limitation. No matter how strong, no one can workout for hours on end with no break. Same with willpower.
The solution = STRUCTURE. This is the way to achieve your goals. This is the way to reduce your decision fatigue. This is the key to real joy and freedom!
A great example I heard from an inspiring leader years ago - imagine you are in your new home, you just moved in. You wake up and want to make a cup of coffee. You have to find your coffee maker, unpack your filters, find where you put the coffee, and then find the mug. The entire process is using up your time and attention. It isn't difficult, but it doesn't allow you to focus on anything else.
But after being in your home for several months, you can do all of that without thinking. You are making your coffee, but while you are doing it you can think about your day or strategize about an upcoming meeting or what you may want to make for dinner.
Having a simple routine gives you want you want (coffee) and gives you mental freedom to think about other more dynamic things.
So where else can structure reduce your decision fatigue? Meal planning, scheduled time to review your calendar each week, scheduled time to prioritize your weekly activities, agreed upon carpool schedules for your kids (seriously, why are you driving them to every practice and game when your neighbor is going to the same place??), automated reminders and payment of bills, and accountability partners for anything you are having a hard time sticking to.
An example from Marshall Goldsmith's book Triggers - Creating Behavior That Lasts, Becoming the Person You Want to Be, about the previous CEO of Ford, Alan Mulally, perfectly demonstrates the power of structure.
He brought structure to his leaderships team's business plan reviews that sounds pretty intense, even to me. He enforced using the same scorecard with green, yellow, red to assess the business each week. He enforced no side discussions, no joking at the expense of others, no interruptions, no cell phones, and no handing off parts of the presentation to a subordinate.
Each leader was expected to articulate their group's plan, status, forecast, and areas that needed special attention. Each leader had a mission to help - not judge - the other people in the room.
While not everyone loved the new strict format, it forced the executives to face, each week, their dire situation (this was many years ago). They weren't allowed to digress or stonewall or avoid painful subjects. Everyone knew the drill and everyone knew the status. This is how those executives discussed the only metric that mattered during Ford's turnaround: How can we help one another more?
Alan retired in 2014 and Fortune magazine ranked him as the third-greatest leader in the world due to his turnaround of Ford. By creating structure for himself and his leadership team, it allowed them to use their energy on problem solving instead of getting distracted/derailed by other external things.
The summary: We do not get better without structure.
But what about "variety is the spice of life"? Isn't it boring to have everything so structured?
This is where your freedom of choice comes in. Balance your spontaneity with structure by deciding which things you want the most consistency on. If you structure the things you want to improve upon, then you leave freedom to actually ENJOY your improvements.
When you aren't overwhelmed by decision fatigue, it is easier to decide to go out to eat on a whim, or to say yes to that new project that will give you the experience and visibility you desire.
When the majority of your life is structured, it gives you back your time, energy and focus.
In today's world, time, energy, and focus are the scarcest resources. Who wouldn't want more?
So sit down and decide on structures for your meals, your wardrobe, your meetings, the way in which you make decisions, your accountability partners, the activities you partake in, and anything else in your life.
Life is unpredictable. Just because you set up the structure doesn't mean it will work all the time. But it will give you the bandwidth to evaluate and adjust. And in the event you face a crisis this year (which sadly, most of us will), you will be able to face it from a place of strength instead of a place of complete overwhelm and exhaustion.
How do you want to show up this year?
Where can structure give you back your freedom?
Take the time to build it, and you will not only reach your goals, but you will truly ENJOY life and your new-found freedom!
Cheers to structure,
Sharon
Build Structure to Support Your Goals
Not clear on your goals? I can help. Together we will get clear on your core values and what a successful career and life look like for you. You will walk away with a written definition of what success means to you in all aspects of life and a path to achieve it with less stress and overwhelm. I take pride in providing practical, actionable steps that work in your very busy life so that you can create work/life success on your terms (including an empowered start to the new year).
I can help you create the structure needed to live the life of your dreams.
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