If you’re like most people, you’re probably feeling a little overwhelmed right now. In the UX field, there are so many things to do and to consider, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information coming at us every day. This is decision fatigue — the feeling that we can’t keep up with all the decisions we need to make in order to be successful at our jobs or lives.

As UX designers, we often feel both macro and micro-level decision fatigue. Designers are constantly making choices on behalf of users on every single pixel of our design. This can lead to hundreds of micro-decisions in our brains every single day. The fatigue can oftentimes cause us to burn out and lesser-thorough decisions.

By exploring wants to prevent and relieve decision fatigue, you can prevent decision fatigue from affecting your productivity levels and quality of life.

“Be decisive. A wrong decision is generally less disastrous than indecision.”

Bernhard Langer

When it doubt, revisit the goal

Sometimes decision fatigue can be a result of weighing too many options all at once and not having a clear insight into the weight of each option. Whether you’re stuck between one variation of design and another or you’re stuck between two different approaches for collaborating with stakeholders, there’s a full-proof solution to alleviate some of this fatigue. Take a step back and remind yourself of the goal and objective at hand.

• What is it that this design needs to accomplish?
• How are we ultimately defining success?

By answering these questions, you’ll be able to have more clarity into the direction to pursue. At the least, you’ll know how to start prioritizing the options at hand.

Document your decisions

Oftentimes, what contributes to the anxiety of decision-making is also having to retain the past decisions that we’ve made. Take a notepad or a digital one and write down difficult decisions that you’ve made that day as they happen. By documenting your decision, you may feel a sense of permanency and solidity in that decision which could help ease the anxiety and fatigue.

Sometimes, documenting your decisions externally can also help you feel like you can make more space in your brain for more difficult decisions.

Know when to ask for help

It’s okay to admit when you need help, and it’s even better if you can find someone who knows more about the topic than yourself. Even if your boss is busy, or your partner, there are plenty of resources out there that can help!

Sometimes we just need to hear a third opinion in order to validate the decision we’ve been wanting to make this entire time.

In UX design, many benefit from sharing their design options with the rest of the design team in order to get visibility, feedback, and inclusion of all perspectives.

Set goals for yourself and stick to them

If you’re struggling with decision fatigue beyond the specific scope of a project, such as decision fatigue in your everyday life, set goals for yourself. The most important thing is that they’re achievable and you stick to them. If a goal isn’t working for you, change it!

Don’t be afraid to change your goals when necessary — this will help keep them fresh, which will make it easier for you to stay motivated and focused on achieving them.

Make sure the goal is something that matters (and is related). It’s all too easy during decision fatigue season when we feel like our lives are falling apart around us just because there are too many things on our plate at once.

Therefore, try not weighting down each decision with “what if” questions like “what if this doesn’t work out?” or “what if this doesn’t go my way?”

Instead ask more positive questions like: Will this help improve my life? Will I enjoy doing this activity? Am I ready/able enough right now?

Create a process that says “no” for you.

In order to have a personal process, you must first know what your process should look like. For example, if you know that you work best when collaborating with your content designer on a weekly basis, then anything that falls outside of that may be a “no-can-do” for you.

Or, if you know that you tend to work best when your designs are validated by users via concept testing early in the pipeline, then stakeholders coming in demanding to ship something “ASAP” will also be a no-go.

Having a set of things that happen regularly and have been proven effective for you time and time again can cut down on decision fatigue when making decisions throughout the day.

Create your own rules

Another factor of decision fatigue is having to balance too many tasks at once. This type of decision fatigue can be alleviated by creating rules for yourself and following them. When we feel overwhelmed by our workloads at work/home/etc., try taking control over one area at a time instead of trying too many things simultaneously.

For example: if there are 20 emails waiting for attention but only four hours left until lunchtime then maybe focus solely on responding rather than replying all at once. Or perhaps ask someone else who knows how long things usually take.

Thanks for reading!

🤝🏼You can learn more about my UX work here and connect with me on LinkedIn.

💬 Always welcome your thoughts or a conversation below!