The Decision Tax — Why Too Many Choices Kill Your Productivity

How many decisions have you made today?

What if the reason you're feeling overwhelmed, distracted, or mentally exhausted has nothing to do with motivation and everything to do with the number of choices you're making?

In this episode of The Efficiency Advantage, productivity expert Juli Shulem explores the hidden cost of decision fatigue and how the constant stream of daily choices quietly drains your focus, energy, and productivity. From deciding what to work on next to managing endless emails, meetings, and priorities, every decision comes with a mental cost.

You'll discover why too many options can actually make decision-making harder, how successful people protect their cognitive bandwidth, and practical strategies to reduce decision overload through routines, systems, prioritization, and smarter workflows.

If you're tired of feeling mentally drained before your most important work even begins, this episode will help you reclaim your focus, protect your energy, and make better decisions that move your life and business forward.

Because productivity isn't just about managing your time.

It's about managing your decisions.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Are you ready to finally break free from overwhelm, procrastination, and burnout? If you're ready to focus on what truly matters and create momentum to reach and exceed your goals in business and in life, then this podcast is for you. Welcome to the Efficiency Advantage, the podcast where clarity meets action and purpose that fuels your progress. So here's world-class productivity expert and your host, Coach Julie.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Efficiency Advantage Podcast. I'm Julie Shulem, Productivity Coach, and today we're going to talk about something that quietly steals more productivity than almost anything else. That is the decision tax. Every decision you make throughout the day costs mental energy. Not just the big decisions, the little ones, you know, like what should I wear today? Should I answer this email now? Or should I, you know, I'll do it later? What should I have for lunch? What task should I start first? Should I take this meeting, buy software? You know, it the list goes on. Most people think productivity problems stem from a lack of motivation, discipline, or not knowing how to use their time well. Well, often the real problem is that they're spending their best thinking on low-value decisions and then wondering why they have no mental energy left for the decisions that actually matter, the ones that move the needle in life forward. Today we're going to talk about what decision fatigue is, why it happens, how it affects productivity, and most importantly, how to protect your decision-making bandwidth so you can do your very best work. So, what is decision fatigue? Researchers use the term decision fatigue to describe the decline in decision quality after making numerous decisions over time. Which kind of makes complete sense. As the number of choices increase, people become more likely to procrastinate, avoid decisions altogether, like how many times have you just walked away from something because the decision was just too much, make impulsive choices, you know, usually just to get it over with, or default to whatever option feels easiest. Research has consistently shown that decision-making quality deteriorates as mental resources become depleted. Think of it this way: your brain has a daily decision budget. The budget isn't unlimited, however. Every choice withdraws a little bit from the account. Eventually, your brain starts looking for shortcuts. That's when you find yourself scrolling through social media instead of finishing a proposal or you order takeout for the third night in a row. Maybe you just say, I'll decide tomorrow. And that's not because you're lazy, it's because you've exhausted your decision budget. So why does your brain get so tired? Well, the prefrontal cortex, that's the part of the brain involved in planning, prioritizing judgment, and decision making, is also responsible for those many executive functions that support productivity. So every time you evaluate options or compare alternatives or decide between competing priorities, you're asking that system to work. The problem is that our lives require hundreds of decisions every day. Many of them are actually unnecessary. In fact, some people spend more mental energy deciding what productivity app to use than actually doing the work that the productivity app is supposed to help you become more productive with. I see this quite regularly with clients. They're exhausted before they even begin their important work because they've spent their morning perhaps making dozens of micro decisions. Like, what should I work on? Where should I start? Should I check my email first? Or maybe I should do this, or maybe I should organize my desk all together, or whatever it may be. By the time they finally start the important task, their mental energy has already been somewhat drained. So the hidden productivity killer is actually choice overload. So here's something else researchers have found. Having too many options can actually impair decision making. We tend to assume more choices create more freedom, but often more choices actually create more friction. I have seen this, and I've actually used this tactic with people in so many different situations. My kids to start with. Kids get overwhelmed if you give them too many choices. Have you ever noticed that? Give them two choices. That way they have something to work with and it's not overwhelming. They may not know all the variables of these options. So you want to make it simple. I had a photography studio 100 years ago, and we would always give the client a sampling, a small number, I should say, of options with regard to the images that they wanted to have in their in their photo album. And I found that if I gave them too many choices, it became so difficult. And it took so long when I could simply edit it down to two or three at the most for them to choose between. Okay, not everything is as exactly as you would want it for one. And I actually said, you know what? Why would I potentially keep you from purchasing a photograph that I could sell you? Obviously, I'm showing you everything that is worthy. So I've made it easier for you because I've already gone through with a loop and I have checked to make sure that no one's eyes have been blinking and no one has, you know, looked away and was distracted and looked away from the from the camera. I've already picked the best for you to select from. When you give someone a choice of just uh two things, you will actually get a better response. And it makes it easier on that person. So when every option feels possible, choosing actually becomes harder. You see this in business as I have, you see it in productivity systems, you see it in everyday life. You know, you might have myriad options with regard to maybe you're doing a remodeling project. Do you really want to see 14 different bathtub options? Or do you just want to see the three or four that check the boxes for you? Think about it. Too many choices, make it more difficult. You also don't want to have so many things to look at. You know, if you have multiple calendars, that's stressful. That's too many places to consult to see where you're going to be going and what you're going to be doing. You want to have fewer things in your visual arena. You want to have one note-taking system, one calendar, one task list. You can have many things on the task list, but one task list. You don't want to have dozens and dozens of browser tabs open. That's also overwhelming. Where are you supposed to go? At some point, the brain stops feeling empowered and starts feeling overwhelmed. And overwhelmed brains don't make good decisions. So this is how high performers protect their decision energy. There's some good news here. They're making fewer unnecessary decisions.

unknown 8:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

They reduce decision load intentionally.

unknown 8:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Let's talk about how. So, strategy one. One of the easiest ways to reduce decision fatigue is to eliminate recurring decisions. You want to create default ideas or default decisions, if you will. Have a default breakfast. Don't have to think about all the things that you could possibly make for breakfast right when you wake up and you open up the refrigerator and you're trying to figure out, well, what am I going to have today? Have two or three choices. It makes it so much easier. And you might even want to think about it in advance, like the night before. What am I going to have for breakfast? Okay, this is it. Default work hours. Make sure that you know what hours are you going to be working? When are you going to work out? Do your exercises. What's your planning process? What are your meeting days? The goal isn't rigidity. The goal is conserving mental energy. This isn't putting you in a box where you have no flexibility. It actually gives you flexibility. And I've proven that so many times when I teach how to put structure in place, it doesn't make you stuck. It doesn't take away the spontaneity. It actually improves it. And I've seen it over and over again. Each decision you don't have to make leaves more capacity for the decisions that actually matter. When I coach a person, I refer to this as creating rituals, routines, and automated systems. So you don't have to decide about every single little thing. You just do it. So here's strategy two using routines or cognitive shortcuts. Some people resist routines because they think that they are boring. Well, neuroscience suggests something different. Routines reduce cognitive load. When a behavior becomes automated, the brain no longer has to repeatedly evaluate the options. That's why routines often feel freeing rather than restrictive. You're not removing freedom, like I said earlier. You're removing the friction. A routine isn't a prison, it's actually just a shortcut. It gets things done faster, too. The next strategy: batch similar decisions. Every time you switch contexts, your brain pays a cognitive cost. Instead of making the same type of decision repeatedly through the day, batch them. Do like items together. Respond to emails during designated blocks. Do it all in one shot. Approve expenses maybe once per week. I balance my bank accounts the last weekend of the month, early morning, when it is quiet. That's my default schedule. That is my routine. I do all financial stuff in that same time frame because I'm kind of in that mindset. Think about something that you might find you've already been kind of batching, if you will. Handle your scheduling, maybe in one sitting. Process paperwork in one sitting. Who wants to go back to that? If you didn't finish it, it's hard sometimes to go back to that. If you can get it all done in one sitting, awesome. All the decisions are similar. The fewer times your brain has to reload a particular decision framework, the more energy you'll save. Basically, think of how you can combine like items together, whatever that may be. Strategy four, schedule your most important thinking early. This might be the most important takeaway from today's episode. Do not schedule your highest valued decisions after you've spent the whole day making hundreds of smaller ones. Protect your prime cognitive hours. For most people, decision quality is strongest earlier in the day before mental resources have become depleted. If you need to make a strategic business decision or create a major proposal, solve a difficult problem, or map out some new initiative, do it before meetings and emails and all those endless things start just kind of coming at you. Give your best brain to your most important work. I've been abiding by this philosophy for decades. Once I noticed the pattern of repeated success by tackling the highest priority item on my list first, I continued to work in this manner. It's how I teach prioritization. When nothing else was weighing on me, I had more clarity on the task I was focusing on. And once that was done, I had the mental bandwidth to tackle the remaining items on my list versus just making constant decisions on less important items first and then you know trying to work on the high-ticket item later on depleted bandwidth. It just doesn't work so well. Last strategy five, simplify your task list. Many people don't have a time management problem, they have a decision management problem. If your task list contains 75 items or something like that, every glance at that list creates another decision. What should I do next? What's most important? What can wait? A shorter, prioritized list actually reduces the cognitive burden. I have shared this in my episodes in the past. Your brain spends less time deciding and more time executing. So remember, productivity isn't about managing time, it's about managing your attention, your energy, and your decisions. Basically, it's about figuring out what you will do while time is passing. And people, this is all about making decisions, the right decisions. Check out episodes eight and nine. If you want a deep dive into task management and prioritization, it's all there. My final thoughts for you. I want you to leave with one question. What decisions are you making every day that you don't actually need to make? Because those decisions are costing you a decision tax. And like any tax, the more you pay, the less you have left. If you want better focus, better productivity, and better follow-through, don't just manage your calendar. Manage your decisions, create default scenarios, build routines, batch similar choices, and protect your best thinking hours. And stop spending premium brain power on low-stakes decisions. Your future self and your productivity will thank you for it. Thank you for joining me for another episode of the Efficiency Advantage. And remember, scheduling is life's rubric, and every unnecessary decision is stealing time and energy from what matters most. Please share this podcast with colleagues, friends, and those in your network. Subscribe, comment, and like. Until next time, have a productive day.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

So that's it for today's episode of The Efficiency Advantage. Head on over to Apple Podcasts iTunes or wherever you listen and subscribe to the show. One lucky listener every single week that posts a review on Apple Podcasts or iTunes will win a chance the grand prize drawing to win a private VIP day with Coach Julie herself. Be sure to head on over to the EfficiencyAdvantage.com and pick up a free copy of Coach Julie's gift. And join us on the next episode.