You're Not Lazy...

Hi friend,

You know that feeling at the end of the day when someone asks you a simple question - "What do you want for dinner?" - and your brain just... stops working?

You stare at them blankly. Every restaurant sounds terrible. Every option feels like too much effort. You can't even decide if you're hungry.

You're not broken. You're experiencing decision fatigue.

The 35,000-Decision Problem

Here's something most people don't realize: the average person makes over 35,000 decisions by the time they go to bed.

Think about your morning alone. What time to wake up. Whether to snooze. What to wear. What to eat. Which emails to answer first. Which tasks to tackle.

Every single one of these choices pulls from the same mental resource pool.

And that pool? It's finite.

What's Actually Happening in Your Brain

When you make decisions, your prefrontal cortex - the part of your brain responsible for executive function - is doing the heavy lifting.

The incessant stream of choices systematically depletes the critical executive functions orchestrated by the prefrontal cortex, specifically its dorsolateral and ventromedial regions.

Think of it like this: your brain has a daily budget of mental energy. Every decision you make withdraws from that budget. Big decisions cost more. Small decisions still cost something.

By 3 PM, you might be running on fumes.

Individuals who make decisions and experience decision fatigue are more susceptible to using cognitive shortcuts that may bias decision making, potentially resulting in decisions that yield undesirable outcomes.

This is why you buy junk food at the grocery store after a long workday. It's why you binge-watch Netflix instead of working on your side project. It's not a character flaw. Your brain is conserving what little energy it has left.

The Four Symptoms

Decision fatigue shows up in four main ways:

Procrastination - putting decisions off until later
Impulsivity - making rash decisions based on little evidence
Avoidance - dodging the decision altogether
Indecision - bouncing back and forth between options

Sound familiar?

Research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that the more choices a person made, the more likely they were to give up, lose willpower and struggle with endurance.

It's not just mental, either. Research participants who made a series of choices demonstrated decreased physical endurance compared to subjects who did not make choices. Decision fatigue literally drains your physical stamina.

Why This Matters for Your Goals

Here's where this gets interesting for anyone trying to build something.

You probably have big goals. A business to grow. Skills to develop. A body to transform. Projects you want to finish.

But if you're spending your mental energy budget on trivial decisions all day long, you have nothing left for what actually matters.

This is why successful people develop weird habits. Steve Jobs wore the same outfit every day. Barack Obama limited his wardrobe to two colors. Mark Zuckerberg does the same thing.

They're not being eccentric. They're being strategic.

By automating mundane decisions, they preserve mental energy for the choices that actually move the needle.

The Morning vs. Evening Problem

Research shows that the best time to make decisions is in the morning - the morning is when we make the most accurate and thoughtful decisions, and we tend to be more cautious and meticulous.

We hit a plateau in the afternoon and by evening our decisions may be more impulsive.

This explains so much, doesn't it?

Why your morning workout plan turns into a couch session by 7 PM. Why you can plan your day perfectly in the morning but can't stick to it by evening. Why you order takeout instead of cooking the healthy meal you planned.

Your decision-making ability literally degrades as the day progresses.

What You Can Actually Do About It

The solution isn't to make fewer decisions. Life doesn't work that way.

The solution is to be strategic about which decisions consume your mental energy.

Automate the small stuff. What you wear, what you eat for breakfast, your morning routine - these should require zero thought. Make these decisions once, then put them on autopilot.

Batch your decisions. Instead of deciding what to eat every day, plan your meals once a week. Instead of choosing workout clothes daily, lay out your gym outfit the night before.

Schedule important decisions for the morning. Don't make big life choices at 8 PM after a full day of work. Your brain literally isn't equipped to handle them well at that point.

Eliminate unnecessary options. More choices aren't always better. Research shows that excessive options often lead to psychological distress. Limit your options intentionally.

The Real Competitive Advantage

Most people don't understand decision fatigue. They wonder why they can't stick to their goals. Why they feel exhausted even when they didn't do much physical work. Why their willpower fails them every evening.

Now you know better.

The people who win aren't necessarily smarter or more disciplined. They're just more strategic about how they spend their mental energy.

They protect their decision-making capacity the same way a professional athlete protects their body.

So here's my question for you: where are you hemorrhaging mental energy on decisions that don't matter?

Because every pointless decision you eliminate is more fuel for the ones that do.

Until Next Monday
Lorenc - Founder of Success Skill