How Entrepreneurs Can Escape Decision Fatigue

Research & Sources / Leadership & Decision-Making

Think of a pocket full of coins at the start of a fair. Every ride costs a coin. In the morning you spend them easily: the carousel, the swings, a candyfloss. By the afternoon the pocket is lighter and you start to hesitate. By evening, you would rather sit on a bench than choose anything at all. Many entrepreneurs live their working day exactly like that fair, and they wonder why the big decisions keep getting pushed to “tomorrow”.

A hundred small coins

An entrepreneur’s day is full of decisions. Which email first. Whether to give that client a discount. Which candidate to call back. Which logo version. What to say to the supplier who is late again. Most of these are small. Together they are a lot.

Each one takes a little attention and a little energy. Not much. But the coins add up, and the pocket is not bottomless. When the really important decision arrives at four in the afternoon, there is not much left to pay with.

What the research suggests

A famous study looked at more than a thousand parole decisions made by experienced judges. The share of favourable decisions was highest at the start of a session and dropped steadily, then jumped back up after a food break.¹ Many readers took this as proof that tired minds fall back on the easy, safe option: “No, not now.”

Other researchers have argued that part of the pattern may come from how cases were ordered, so the study is debated. But the everyday experience it describes is familiar to almost everyone who leads a business: late in the day, we choose the default. We postpone, we say no, we say “let’s keep things as they are”.

A second line of research shows what happens to attention when we keep jumping between tasks. When people switch from one task to another, part of their mind stays with the first one. Researchers call this attention residue, and it lowers performance on the next task.² A day full of small decisions is a day full of switches.

Why entrepreneurs are especially exposed

In a large company, many small decisions are made by rules, departments and routines. In a growing business, they often all land on one desk. The entrepreneur becomes the decision point for everything, from the coffee machine to the next market.

That is not only tiring. It is risky. The most important decisions of the business, the ones that shape the next two years, are then made with the last coins of the day, or not made at all.

How to protect your best decisions

Make your big decisions early. Put the one decision that matters most into the first hours of your day, before email and before meetings. Treat that slot like a meeting with your most important client.

Turn repeated decisions into rules. If you decide the same type of question every week, write a rule once. “Discounts up to five percent are fine for orders above this size.” “We answer all enquiries within two hours.” Every rule is a coin you never have to spend again.

Batch the small stuff. Collect small decisions in one list and handle them together in one block, instead of answering each one the moment it arrives.

Give decisions away on purpose. Many decisions do not need you. Name who decides what, and stop being asked.

Take real breaks. The judges’ decisions changed after a food break. A short walk, a meal away from the screen, ten minutes of quiet: these are not luxuries. They refill the pocket a little.

A quick test for today

Tonight, write down every decision you made today that you can remember. Mark each one with a letter: B for big (it shapes the next months), R for repeated (you decide this every week), D for delegable (someone else could decide it). Most entrepreneurs find very few B’s, many R’s and a surprising number of D’s.

What this means for you this week

• Block the first 60 minutes of two mornings for one important decision each.
• Write three rules for decisions you make again and again.
• Hand over one decision type completely to someone on your team.
• Move one big decision you keep postponing to a morning slot, and decide it there.

You do not need more energy at the end of the day. You need to spend your best coins first.

Sources

1. Danziger, S., Levav, J. & Avnaim-Pesso, L. (2011). Extraneous factors in judicial decisions. PNAS, 108(17), 6889-6892. doi.orgFavourable parole rulings fell over a session and recovered after food breaks. The interpretation as decision fatigue has been debated by other researchers.
2. Leroy, S. (2009). Why is it so hard to do my work? The challenge of attention residue when switching between work tasks. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109(2), 168-181. doi.orgPart of our attention stays with the previous task after switching, lowering performance on the next one.