Do you ever feel tired from the amount of decisions that you have to make in a day?
Hello and welcome back to the Easy English Podcast, where we help you to improve your English by exploring real life topics in slow, clear and simple English.
My name's Oliver, and today's episode is all about something called decision fatigue.
Decision fatigue.
Fatigue is like tiredness, when you feel really tired.
Have you ever just felt exhausted, very tired from making too many small decisions in a day?
Well, this could be, for example, what to eat, what to wear, or even which email you should reply to first, or what task you should do.
That is decision fatigue.
And today we're going to talk all about it.
And this episode, I would say, is perfect for any learner between B1 plus right up into advanced English levels.
We will learn vocabulary, grammar and some interesting facts that are going to help you to improve your English skills while practicing your listening.
So as always, we always start with a vocabulary focus.
And we look at five pieces of key vocabulary words and phrases that I want you to learn and listen out for in today's episode.
Even if you know some of these words already, try to listen for them and hear them in today's episode,
As always, the full vocabulary list, as well as the free study companion with some exercises on this topic, is in the link in the description.
Let's take a look at this new vocabulary focus before we start the topic.
The first word for today is overwhelm. overwhelm.
And that means to give someone too much of something that makes them feel stressed or unable to cope.
This doesn't have to be in relation to a person.
You can overwhelm a system or a company or an organization.
But in this case, on this topic, we are talking about people.
So, for example, I was overwhelmed by all of the choices on the menu.
The next word for today is routine. routine and routine is a regular way of doing things.
For example, I follow a morning routine that helps me to stay calm in the morning.
I wake up, I like to have a glass of coffee or a cup of coffee, and then I get my breakfast and take a shower and get changed for the day.
That is my morning routine.
The third phrase from our vocabulary focus is mental energy.
Mental energy.
And this is the brain power that we use to think, to make decisions and to stay focused.
It's the energy in our brain that we use for this.
For example, I save mental energy by planning my meals for the week ahead.
Our fourth piece of key vocabulary for today is default.
Default or default is another way it is pronounced in some areas.
And this is something that happens automatically if you don't make a choice.
So, for example, if I don't choose a seat, the airline picks a default one for me or a default one for me.
Essentially, if we don't choose something, we get the default.
And the final word for today in this key vocabulary is fatigue.
Fatigue.
We already mentioned this at the start, but it's a great word.
And that is extreme tiredness.
It is like tiredness.
Decision fatigue can make even simple choices feel difficult.
Try to listen for these in the episode.
And as I mentioned, the vocabulary list and exercises are in the description below.
So let's get started into the main episode of the podcast.
To start with, what is decision fatigue?
Decision fatigue is the idea that the more decisions that we make in a day, the harder each one becomes.
Our brain starts to get tired, just like our body does.
When you think about it.
When we exercise, when we're running, when we're doing physical activity, of course our muscles get tired, our body starts to feel tired.
And the idea of decision fatigue is essentially the same thing.
But with our mental energy, with our brain And by the end of the day, making even a small choice like what to have for dinner can be really hard.
It can feel like a very big thing.
Scientists have actually studied this and there has been research carried out on this topic.
And one famous study showed that judges were more likely to say yes to prisoners early on in the day.
And later in the day, when they were more tired, they said no more often.
And this shows how decision fatigue can affect important things.
And that's when I say judges.
That is a person in the criminal justice system making decisions about what to do with criminals.
So when we think about this, I guess we wonder why does it happen?
If it has been studied and we know that as we make more decisions in the day, it gets harder.
Why does this actually happen?
Well, every time we make a decision, we use a kind of mental energy.
And our brains are not made or they haven't developed to handle hundreds of small choices every day.
Think about your morning, for example.
You might have to wake up, decide what to wear, what to eat, what messages to answer and which route to take to work.
So already we have had lots of little tiny decisions, and all of these tiny decisions add up and they start to use your mental energy.
And that's why by around, let's say 3 p.m. or 4 p.m., you might feel that your brain is full.
Your brain is tired.
You have so much information in your head And you've made so many choices in the day already.
And when we are low on this mental energy, this energy to make decisions and to do things, we often go with the default choice, the default.
And this is not always a bad thing, but it means that we stop thinking carefully and, And often we stop thinking critically.
We're not evaluating the options and picking the best one in our heads.
And in my head.
I guess, when you think about late in the evening and this is me personally I tend to start making worse decisions, right?
So in the evening, I start to maybe eat more junk food when I'm hungry.
If I'm hungry and it's late at night, instead of making the choice to grab an apple or a piece of fruit, I am much more likely to pick up a bag of crisps or chips you might call them or a chocolate bar or something else unhealthy.
And likewise, if I'm very hungry, I'm much more likely to order fast food in the evening than I am during the day.
And I think this is because my decision-making skills are impacted by this fatigue, this decision fatigue.
I think, oh, I just want the easiest option.
And I think a lot of people are like that.
Let me know in the comments, do you experience this problem as well?
As the day gets later, do you start to make worse choices to make more bad decisions?
I'm very curious if you have this issue like me too.
Okay, so...
We're now going to look at some real life answers here and what some real people have said.
I've asked three of my sort of English learners and people within our English learning community this question.
What small decisions do you find tiring?
And I want to highlight three of our listeners answers.
The first was from Sarah, from Spain, and she said to me Choosing what to cook every day is stressful.
I waste time trying to decide and then end up eating the same thing.
Wow, Sarah, that's pretty much the similar problem that I have.
Except for me, usually it's a worse decision to get fast food or food delivered to me.
But I totally understand making that decision.
To have something new and interesting every day is quite hard.
So we often end up going back to the same meal, the same dish.
Okay, and I also got a response from Kamal from India.
And they said, when I go shopping online, I often get tired choosing between so many products.
This is true, Kamal.
I would say online we have almost unlimited choice.
There are so many websites and on these websites, like Amazon and different marketplaces, there are thousands and thousands of products and often so many choices of the same product.
Like, even if we think about supermarkets.
For example, when was the last time you went into a supermarket?
If it was recently, think about the choice that you have with simple products.
Often there are 10 types of one product and we have to decide which one.
Often we will pick the cheapest one.
So the cheapest option.
Sometimes we will look for quality and other times we will be trying to decide do we want a branded product, an unbranded product?
Maybe we will look at the calories or how much fat and salt is in it, or perhaps we will just grab one and leave.
But for most of us, this choice can be quite difficult because there are so many options.
Okay, let's look at one more response which we got from anna from germany, and anna said my phone gives me so many notifications.
Deciding what to check and when makes me feel overwhelmed.
Wow, i agree.
I get the exact same problem with my phone And, to be honest with you, I made an episode on this in the past and I tried to use my phone a lot less and use social media so much less as well, but it is so difficult.
Notifications are deadly.
They are dangerous.
They make us open our phone and start to use it.
But I agree that we need to try and control these things because they can be very distracting.
Can you relate to any of these people who have written in to the show?
And if you want to take part in the question for next week's show, you can check out on the Patreon as well.
I will post questions where you can answer, but also make sure you're following the Easy English social media accounts too.
Okay, so now that we know that this...
Decision fatigue is a big problem.
How do we reduce decision fatigue?
Well, you can't stop making decisions.
We need to make decisions every day, but you can make fewer of them or you can make them a little bit easier.
And here are some tips that I have thought about which can help us.
They can help us to reduce the amount of decisions that we are making and reduce the amount of mental energy that we are using as well.
The first is to create routines.
And this is something that I have tried to do, which has really helped me with my job.
So, for example, if you eat the same breakfast every day, or you wear similar clothes or you do similar things in the morning, it can reduce the amount of decisions that you make when you first wake up.
I'll give you an example about my personal life.
So what me, what Oliver does in the morning.
Often with my job, I have to travel very early in the morning.
As I record this podcast tomorrow, I will have to wake up at 5 am and leave by 530 am in the morning.
So very early.
And what I do the night before is I make sure that all of my clothes are picked and laid out for me in the morning.
This is a routine.
I do this every night before I leave for work.
I also leave out my coffee cup in the kitchen and I cut two slices of bread ready for my breakfast in the morning.
And I leave some snacks to bring for the day as well.
And because I do this when I wake up in the morning.
My routine is very simple and it's the same every day.
I take a shower, I get dressed, I walk downstairs, I put the bread into the toaster and I prepare my breakfast.
I grab all of the stuff, get in the car and leave.
And because this is a routine and I make things more simple, I can do this in under 30 minutes.
So half an hour every single morning.
And as a result, I can get a little bit extra sleep until 5 a.m. or 5.30 depending on when I leave.
So that includes my next tip, which I have already described with my experience is planning ahead.
So making the decisions in advance when you feel like you have that mental energy.
The third one is to limit your choices.
When you're deciding something, like buying the groceries, don't look at a hundred different types.
Pick from three different ones.
Think about what you're looking for.
Do you want something cheaper?
Do you want something higher quality or something somewhere in the middle and just look for that option.
Look at the price and the quality and try to pick from a smaller selection.
And finally, make sure that you take breaks during the day.
If we are all the time focused on decisions and doing things without taking time to just relax and not think about anything, Of course our brain is going to get fatigued.
It's going to require a break.
So make sure you're doing that during the day.
You don't have to make your life boring, but you should make it easier and more simple and more planned.
And this will help you to not get so much decision fatigue.
So why does this all matter?
Why does decision fatigue matter in general?
Well, decision fatigue really affects how we live.
It can make us less kind, maybe less patient as well.
It can make us more forgetful. and it can lead to bad decisions.
Like what I said earlier about eating more unhealthy food, maybe spending money when we don't need to with some late night online shopping.
I'm sure we've all done it.
But by understanding our decision fatigue, We can protect our mental energy and make better choices.
And this is especially important for students, for parents, for workers, anyone who has a busy life.
Really, I think it's important for everyone.
So here are some questions that I want to leave you with to think about today.
Some reflection questions.
What small decisions do you make every day?
Can you change your routine to reduce stress?
And finally, what is one thing that you could decide once and not think about again?
You might want to try and write down your answers just to practice answering that, or you can talk about them with a friend.
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Easy English Podcast.
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Thank you so much for listening and I hope that you have enjoyed your time listening to the Easy English Podcast and perhaps that you have learnt some new words today.
We've had lots of words like overwhelm, routine mental energy, default or default fatigue, and probably many more, used in the episode today.
So thank you for listening and I will see you in the next one.
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Goodbye.
