On Countless Decisions and the Silent Drain of Mental Energy
Most mornings, I feel like I’m trapped in a never-ending multiple-choice exam.
What to eat: oats or paratha?
How much to eat: one paratha or two? (The heart says two, the conscience whispers one.)
What to wear: the formal shirt that means ironing, or the T-shirt that means judgment?
What to read: news headlines that raise my blood pressure, or that half-finished book that keeps reminding me of my unfinished discipline?
By the time I’ve wrestled with these small verdicts, I’ve already lost half my mental battery—and the real day hasn’t even begun.
This invisible leak is what psychologists call decision fatigue. I call it “death by a thousand tiny choices.” The paradox is that most of these decisions don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, but they quietly drain us before we face the ones that do.
In my corporate years, I often noticed how leaders could debate fonts and formats on a PowerPoint slide for an hour but postpone the actual strategy conversation that would decide the next quarter. At home, I’ve seen families spend more time deciding “where to eat dinner” than actually enjoying dinner.
The trouble is not the decisions themselves—it’s the sheer volume. When our mind becomes a food court of options, we end up either making poorer choices or simply defaulting to the path of least resistance. (How else do you think instant noodles became such a global success?)
What helped me over time was learning to simplify. I began fixing routines where possible—same breakfast, same reading time, even a small wardrobe of “easy choices.” Strangely enough, this did not make life boring; it freed up energy for the things that truly matter: creative work, relationships, and the quiet space to reflect.
Maybe the real art of living is not about making more decisions, but about making fewer and better ones. Or as I like to think of it: curate your choices the way you curate your music playlist—keep the ones that uplift you, delete the noise.
So, two questions worth pausing on:
- What can I simplify today so I stop spending energy on trivia?
- Am I choosing this out of clarity, or simply out of exhaustion?
Life will always offer you a buffet of choices. The trick is not to taste everything—it’s to know which dishes deserve your appetite.
Letters for the Inner Journey by Pushkar
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