On Productivity: Decision Fatigue and Crappy Afternoons
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If I ask you to picture Steve Jobs, what comes to mind?
Most likely, you’ll conjure up an image of the innovator in his black turtleneck and jeans. And fair enough, considering he seemed to wear that outfit almost exclusively.
Mark Zuckerberg and some other start-up founders also have pretty monotonous wardrobes. It’s almost like they’ve given themselves a uniform.
What some don’t realise is this dedication to a single ‘look’ is rarely due to some lack of interest in fashion trends (okay, maybe there’s a bit of that… I mean, black turtleneck).
But the main reason for the self-imposed uniform is simply this: It’s one less decision to make throughout the day.
Decision fatigue occurs when we make so many choices during the day that our capacity for sound decision-making declines.
We have a limited amount of energy for decision-making, so minimising the peripheral choices we would otherwise add to the mix can help us focus on more important things. Otherwise, by the time evening rolls around, we end up irritable and exhausted. You could find yourself at the tail end of the workday, making dumb concessions in a negotiation. Or, you could be so mentally drained that you give in to your impulse to order too much junk food from UberEats. Lowered inhibitions and stupid choices because our brain is done and over it.
Decision fatigue is real, but there are small things we can do to minimise the blow.
Consider the difference between waking up and scouring through your wardrobe for an appropriate outfit, versus picking up the carefully folded uniform you’ve pre-chosen for yourself. Think about how much more draining it is to try and figure out when you’re going to exercise today, when you’re going to each lunch, when you’re going to listen to that podcast… compared to an existing routine where these tasks are all scheduled neatly into your day.
In each case, the latter takes up less cognitive energy than the former. So, you’re able to put more effort into the substantive stuff. You can focus on the execution without getting caught up in the logistics.
The Problem of Being Busy
Are focus and good decision-making that hard to achieve in day to day life, though?
Well, yes.
I think it’s fair to say the average person wastes a lot of mental energy each day, often without even realising. And this goes beyond using up our cognitive resources on menial decisions.
In 2017, productivity app RescueTime analysed more than 225 million hours of computer usage. They found that their average user switches between tasks over 300 times each day. That is, things like opening a new tab, switching to check on an email notification, swapping to a quick scroll on Instagram.
Keep in mind, too, that RescueTime is a tool for measuring productivity, so you’d expect their users to be the kind of people more dedicated to staying focused.
And, on top of switching between tasks frequently, one 2011 paper[1] found that we also grossly under-assess how often we do it. In this study, the majority of people underestimated how often they switched attention from a computer to a TV screen. Participants assessed their own switching behaviour “at an average of only 12 percent of their actual switching rate”. In other words, people moved their attention from the TV to the computer screen almost ten times more than they thought they did.
Even worse, when we do get distracted by a phone call or email, or succumb to that urge to check twitter ‘real quick’, there are suggestions that it takes about 23 minutes to recover and focus back on the initial task.
(Honestly, why does the construct of time even exist if it’s just going to sit there and make us feel bad?)
So, in a world where busy is the norm, anything we can do to keep our focus on the important things and minimise decision fatigue will help our productivity.
Chronotypes and Productivity
In Daniel Pink’s 2018 book, ‘When’, he explores one of the most significant influences on our cognitive performance: Timing.
Pink compiles existing research and finds that for most people, there are relatively predictable fluctuations in mood, focus, effectiveness and creativity throughout the day.
In particular, most people are better at making decisions and completing analytical tasks in the morning, and creative or insight-based tasks in the late afternoon to early evening. And, we all seem to be comparably useless during the afternoon slump in the middle.
So, there’s a morning peak, an afternoon downturn, and rise again in the late afternoon to early evening.
(There are exceptions to this based on different chronotypes, which is a fancy word for our body clocks. A true night owl, for example, operates slightly differently. I wrote about chronotypes a while back here, but it’s worth checking out Pink’s book to explore them more deeply.)
Still, it makes sense for us to use this default flow of energy over the day to our advantage: Scheduling important meetings in the morning, for example, to capture the majority of attendees at a time when they’re alert. The same would apply for prospecting and follow-up calls in sales, or any significant task involving mental challenge.
Afternoons Suck.
One point in Pink’s book that surprised me a little is that the afternoon sucks. Don’t get me wrong; I’ve felt that post-lunch lethargy many times. But the situation is worse than I thought. The afternoon really sucks.
Pink cites research showing that in the afternoon, people make worse decisions, hospitals make more mistakes, judges generally make less favourable rulings than in the morning, and kids don’t perform as well on exams.
…Turns out the folks who came up with the “3:30-itis” ads for soup were pretty on the money.
With the backing of behavioural science, though, Pink suggests that there is a way to fight the suckiness: frequent breaks where you completely detach yourself from your work, exercising outside and chatting with friends can all help us regain productivity in the afternoons. It seems that high-quality breaks to restore and refresh your energy can actually help combat afternoon dreariness to a significant degree.
Still might be best to save that big negotiation for the AM, though.
Creating a New Normal
With 2020 closing the chapter on the lives we once knew, many have been affected by the loss of their old routine and structure. I know I've had too many days where I've woken up and thought to myself, “okay, how do I want this day to play out?”
Instead of using our glorious morning cognitive energy on menial tasks like figuring out what to wear or when we’re going to get our walk in that day, it makes sense to build a reliable routine. As part of this, automating the menial – like creating a personal dress code and co-ordinating meal plans on rotation – can help. Save your prime energy for the good stuff.
In any routine, you want to work with your peak energy points throughout the day. For most, that means “eating that frog”: From the Mark Twain quote, “eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day”, it translates to doing the most cognitively difficult analytical tasks in the morning, and saving easier stuff for later.
Overall, it’s important to reflect on when you’re personally most energetic and cognitively alert, and schedule around that.
And the longer you follow your routine, the easier it is to follow. Not only does that mean you can build positive, productive habits, but your precious energy is reserved for the tasks you care about most. Routines also foster a sense of control, which is in scarce supply this year and can assist in clearer thinking.
If you’ve been struggling with routine lately, I empathise. Frankly, it’s probably why I’ve been reading so much about productivity. (Reading about productivity is, itself, productive. This is the hill I have chosen to die on.) I’ve noticed how a lack of structure has affected my clarity and effectiveness, and I’ve started making changes because of it.
I’d love to know how you’ve adjusted or improved your routine in 2020.