Last week we looked at the benefits of doing a brain dump to help clear out the mental clutter. A second strategy for reducing overwhelm is to reduce the number of decisions we have to make each day.
Strategy #2- Eliminate Decision Fatigue
We live in a time and place where you can walk down an aisle at the grocery store and see upwards of fifty different kinds of cereal, dozens of types of chips, twenty or thirty options for bread, and a plethora of options for toothpaste and hair care products, not to mention every other item in between. It is a privilege to have so many options available to us. But is it really helpful? Every item we see and consider takes time and thought. It uses mental focus we could be putting toward more productive endeavors and leaves us feeling exhausted after simply walking through a store.
And it’s not just our purchases that require consideration. We also must decide how we spend our time each day, what we eat for each meal, what we wear, which tasks we tackle and when, what time we go to bed, what we allow our kids to do, and more. Unless you’ve made these decisions in advance, you’re making them repeatedly, all day, every day. This is exhausting, and unnecessary! Reducing the need to engage with decisions like these can reduce the feeling of overwhelm, eliminate wasted time, and improve our mental health.
Decide in Advance
A simple way to reduce overwhelm and increase focus and productivity is to automate some of these things. For me, doing this can even improve my mood. Being bombarded with questions from my kids such as, “Can I have a snack?” “Can I watch a show?” and “What are we having for dinner?” can grate on me because it’s another thing I suddenly have to try to process mentally in addition to everything else I’m trying to juggle in my mind. I want to make a good decision in each of these moments, but my lack of planning is forcing me to keep making that same decision over and over again, wasting time and causing stress, when I could avoid this by having a plan in place.
What sorts of decisions cause you to feel overwhelmed or lost in your day? Which questions do you find yourself having to ask and answer over and over again? Why not take a few moments and establish a plan in order to save time and reduce stress going forward?
Try a Meal Rotation
Do you regularly find yourself wondering what to make for dinner? If meal planning stresses you out, consider picking a week’s worth of your family’s favorite meals and having them on the same night each week (Meatloaf Mondays, Taco Tuesdays, etc.) Sure, you give up some variety doing this, but if swapping variety for less overwhelm is a trade you’re willing to make during this season of life, then eat the same thing every Monday and decrease the stress!
If this kind of meal routine doesn’t appeal to you, then commit to a specific time each week (such as Sunday nights, or the day before you usually do your shopping) when you’re going to choose the week’s meals and make your grocery list. You can post the meal schedule for the week on the fridge to remind yourself of the plan and eliminate the need for family members to ask.
And if you prefer an even more spontaneous approach, post a list of whichever meals you have the ingredients for that week without assigning them to a specific day. It helps to write them down directly after doing your shopping, when it’s fresh in your mind. Then when it’s time to cook, simply select the meal that sounds good to you that day and whip it up! This does still leave you with a decision to make each day, but at least your options are laid out for you and you know you’ve got what you need, rather than rummaging through the fridge and pantry flustered trying to figure out what you can put together.
Consider a Capsule Wardrobe
Another daily decision we can simplify is what to wear. Consider creating a capsule wardrobe with just a few basic pieces that all go well together, so anything you grab will look good. Or choose a few of your favorite outfits and put them into a rotation- kind of like Taco Tuesdays, but you may want to tweak the number to greater or fewer than 7 so you aren’t wearing the same outfit to see the same people you see every Tuesday (although you definitely could!).
I’ve found the best time to deal with outfit planning is when I’m folding and putting away laundry, which usually ends up being on a Sunday morning. Instead of putting pants away in the pants drawer and shirts in the shirt drawer, I’ll put together a few outfits for the week and put them on a hanger or shelf in my closet. The day starts off more smoothly when you can roll out of bed and put on what’s already been selected without having to think about it!
When my kids were going to in-person school last year, they enjoyed planning the week’s wardrobe on Sundays, too. They’d put each day’s outfit and accessories in a little hanging fabric cubicle in their closet. This really helped with being prepared for all those theme days schools seem to throw at you, like Red Shirt day or Wacky Socks Wednesday or PE day, and it eliminated the morning scramble to find the right clothes, a huge stress reducer for everyone.
Take Turns Choosing
When my husband and I started doing a weekly at-home date night, we eliminated the agonizing discussions about what we were going to do each time (“I don’t know, what do you want to do?”) by alternating whose turn it was to choose, and this has made it so much easier. We know who is doing the planning or deciding, so one person has no pressure, and the person choosing doesn’t worry too much about picking something the other won’t like, because the other person can pick something they like next week. This works well for family movie nights, too. You get a chance to pick what you enjoy, but you also get a free pass out of decision-making the rest of the time.
So, if you’re having trouble with that meal plan we talked about, why not have each family member choose one of the week’s meals and take that decision-making right off your plate?
Simplify Household Items
Something else thing we’ve simplified at our house is toiletries. We realized we could choose some basic soap and shampoo that would work for everyone in the family (a bottle of Suave Daily Clarifying shampoo and a bar of Dove soap for sensitive skin, if you’re curious). This actually came from a desire not to pack as much when we travel, but it works well at home, too. We make exceptions as needed, of course, but for the most part, we know what to grab when shopping or packing and it saves time and thought.
You can take this idea further by simplifying in each area of your home, getting rid of as much of the clutter and excess as you can. This not only makes your home a more refreshing place to be but it reduces the amount of time you must spend selecting, organizing, cleaning, maintaining, putting away, and thinking about your stuff. There are lots of good books, blogs and podcasts out there about minimalism and decluttering, so I won’t dive too deeply into it here, but it’s worth mentioning because, while we may think the items we have add value or convenience to our lives, it’s easy to overlook not just the financial cost but the time and focus each of our belongings require from us, making up a potentially huge portion of our overwhelm. So consider kicking some of that physical clutter to the curb!
Tell your time where to go
As much as I hate to say it since I am someone who struggles with sticking to schedules, planning how we spend our time is one of the biggest ways to reduce decision fatigue. Without a plan in place for the day, every moment requires decision-making and we feel scattered, unsure of what we should be doing and uncertain that everything that should get done will, in fact, get done. Just as taking the time to make a budget telling our money where to go can ensure that essential expenses are covered, prevent unnecessary spending, and show us how much extra we have to use freely, budgeting our time by scheduling it in advance can help ensure that the important things don’t get neglected give us the sense of calm that comes with knowing we’re on track to meet our goals and responsibilities, and remove the need keep making those decisions all day long.
This doesn’t mean you have to micromanage every 15-minute segment of your day if that doesn’t fit your personality type, but even time-blocking your day into a few chunks can help. I’ve found this method works best for me, and I’ve currently got my day broken up into 2- to 3-hour segments, with about 3 tasks to focus on during each block of time. This gives me a guide to refer to which helps me stay on track, but I enjoy the wiggle-room and the freedom to choose between a few tasks during each chunk of time. Just as the meal list on the fridge gives some helpful guidance to the person who wants to see what they’re going to feel like eating for dinner without leaving them lost and tempted to order takeout, a larger block approach to scheduling can give you some options, but you get to decide the order in which you do them within that window. If you’d like to try this method, you can grab a free template below.
Give yourself the gift of a less cluttered mind
Not all of these ideas will be the right fit for your life, but what is one area where reducing the number of decisions you have to make repeatedly would lower your stress? What can you simplify or plan for in advance? Please share it in the comments and cheer each other on!
Here’s to making our minds a more peaceful and refreshing place to live!
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