In adults, a lack of routine is best described as a phenomenon called “decision fatigue.” A lack of clearly defined “rules and routines” leads to having to make many decisions.
Do I get up at 6 or 7 a.m.? Do I have bread, cereal or muesli for breakfast? Do I have one or two cups of coffee? Do I get dressed before breakfast or after? Do I see four, five or six clients per day? What do I make for dinner? Shall I have a glass of wine? Decisions, decisions, decisions — all taking up precious brain energy that could be used for productivity.
Decision fatigue has been studied scientifically and the findings are fascinating. At the beginning of the day, after a good night’s sleep, we have plenty of brain energy and, as a result, we make good decisions. But every decision uses up brain power. The later it is in the day and the more decisions that have been made, the more brain power has been used. Less brain energy is left to make the decisions, and then an interesting thing happens: As brain energy is running low, decisions are no longer based on factual logic and reason, but instead the brain takes shortcuts to conserve energy and, as a consequence, poor decision-making is likely to occur.
This phenomenon was studied among parole board judges, and the researchers found that the likelihood of being granted parole did not depend on the crime, the prison sentence or the ethnic background of the inmate, but rather on the time of day of the hearing. The later in the day the hearing, the less likely it is that you will be given parole. Prisoners who appeared early in the morning received parole about 70 percent of the time, while those who appeared late in the day were paroled less than 10 percent of the time. At the beginning of the day, the judges had plenty of brain energy to make decisions based on facts and reason, but as the day went on and their brain power began to run low, they became more and more likely to go for the safe shortcut of denying parole.
It wasn’t that these judges weren’t capable of making good, reasonable decisions, but rather that the mental work of ruling on case after case wore them down. The same principle applies to quarterbacks being prone to dubious choices toward the end of the game, or anyone being able to stick to a diet until 4 in the afternoon, when they cave in and eat all the cookies in the jar.
The more decisions you make in a day, the less mental energy you will have. Decision fatigue can warp anyone’s judgment, and the danger is that it mostly happens when you are completely unaware. When energy runs out, the brain has two tactics: to go for instant satisfaction by letting willpower off the hook (eat that cookie, buy that dress, or jump on Facebook), or to do nothing and avoid making any decisions. This is why sweets are at the checkout section in the supermarket. After the tiring process of decision-making as you are filling your shopping cart, by the time you are waiting in the line and the sweets are staring at you, they become hard to resist.
A lack of routine equals an energy leak in your system. You can combat this by structuring your day to avoid making important decisions at the end of it. Creating healthy habits and routines and sticking to them, for the most part, will leave you with more energy for stress-free productivity.
This is an edited extract from “Reach Your Goals” by clinical psychologist Chantal Hofstee.