ADHD & Decision Fatigue: Why "Small" Choices Wipe You Out
I just got back from NYC, my happy place.
No car. No parking. Just walking. & the occasional train of course.
Coffee, thrift store, random museum, done. Barely any decisions or transitions along the way. The options were just…there.
Every trip, I leave with a new theory about why I love it so much. Why I seem to have more capacity for creativity and generally a bias towards action in a way that I have to fight for at home.
Here's the thing about ADHD brains: small decisions aren't small and transitions can wreck our capacity.
Where to park. What to eat. Which email first. Is this good enough to send. I was going to the grocery store, but now I need gas- I wasn’t mentally prepared for the gas station, I was prepared for Publix.
By noon, you're not tired from doing too much. You're tired from braining too much.
That's decision fatigue. And ADHD brains hit it faster than most.
New York doesn’t change my capacity for decisions or transitions, but it does remove a hundred tiny choices from my days.
So what does this mean for you?
Here are 3 things you can try at home to get a taste of my NY inspiration:
Look for decisions you can reduce by predeciding: I.E., Tuesdays are for takeout, and Thursday is a fish dish, or on Wednesdays I wear a dress.
Attach movement to something you already do. Park farther. Take the stairs. Motivation is hard for us. Decisions are harder. Remove both by creating an environment that decides for you. I used to have a standing hiking date with some friends- it was my preferred method of exercise because there was no deciding when I was finished- it was over when I made it back to my car.
Identify areas where you are re-inventing the wheel each time and cut. It. out. Some of these for me was my grocery list, meals I chose from for breakfasts, what I take for potlucks, and gifts I give for things like weddings/baby showers, etc. Pick your “signature’ move and make a note of it.
You call it an ADHD strategy, I call it chic personal branding.
You're not lazy. You're not undisciplined.
You're just out of capacity for decisions before lunch.
What's one thing you re-decide every single day that you could just... decide once?
