“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.”
--Bruce Lee
Decision fatigue represents the declining quality of decisions made by people after a long period of making decisions. Courtroom judges, for example have been shown to make poorer decisions later in the day versus early in the day. Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs notably reduced their clothing choices to just a few outfits in a deliberate attempt to limit the number of daily decisions they were forced to make.
Everyday life is complicated enough--the key to productivity and sanity for that matter is simplification. There are only so many hours in a day and even the most active people don’t have a limitless store of energy. Consequently, it’s vital that you spend your most productive hours on your most important tasks and projects, which necessitates saying no to things that aren’t as important.
In addition to energy, time is also a limited resource. If you say yes to too many things, you’ll find yourself a mile wide and an inch deep—overextended, and exhausted. As Warren Buffett famously said, “the difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say no to almost everything.” To that end, what you don’t do is as important as what you do. Onward and upward!
