The Power of Planning

A few weeks ago I published an article about Decision Fatigue – if you didn’t get a chance to read it, click here to catch up. Don’t worry though, you don’t need to have read that for this article to be relevant, it simply gives you some background insight.

Now we know that decision fatigue is real, how do we deal with it? How can we make life easier or reduce our decisions? Delegation is one way – getting others to make the decisions on your behalf. But there must be more we can do, right? Yes. Yes, there is!

Let's Talk AI

I’m not going to go into the pros and cons of AI, because there is so much noise about this and you probably already have your own thoughts. What I’m going to talk about is how I use AI to combat decision fatigue.

I’ve been using ChatGPT for work purposes for a while, but it wasn’t until it changed a task in my personal life that I thought about getting these words out.

I don’t use ChatGPT to ‘write’ things for me, it’s not, for example, writing this article – it’s all me! I can see value in this, but it doesn’t fit with how I work. What I do use it for is ideas:

💡 Give me some marketing theme ideas for the month of [month]

💡 Suggest a presentation structure for [title/topic]

💡 Give me ideas for this blog title (I’ll be copying this text in once I’ve finished for ideas. I take what it gives me and use it for inspiration and then come up with my own on – I’ll give an example at the bottom)

💡 Give an example of a quiz or questionnaire based on [topic]

Essentially, I am asking ChatGPT to help me make my decisions by providing me with a finite number of options or suggestions, and then I choose from them or use them as the foundation for my own take on it. It isn’t making the complete decision, but it removes a lot of the mental load, which in turn helps keep your level of decision fatigue down.

The Game-Changing Moment

I mentioned that I’ve started using this for personal tasks, so let me tell you where it’s been a complete game-changer. Each week I plan the family’s meals for the week ahead and write a shopping list based on that. As I like to keep things fresh and varied, each week I look through various recipe books and sites to get inspiration. Trawling through meals to suit our family life, that will fit in around all our activities. I tend to do this in the evening which is not when my mind is freshest; it’s a time when I’m prone to suffer from decision fatigue. It makes the job harder than it needs to be.

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned to Mr Strive4, with a heavy sigh, that I needed to do this task. He said to use ChatGPT for ideas. So I gave it a go…

“Give me ideas for meals. These should be easy to make. For a family of 4, 2 adults a 10yr old and 6 yr old. They should be made from scratch and be high in protein. Carbs can be in the meal, but should be able to removed to suit 1 keto/low carb needs”

Based on this command, ChatGPT spewed out 10 meals that absolutely met the needs, a few of which that suited the tastes of the family and have subsequently been cooked. It initially gave me the titles, but I could get full recipes, and opt to change the main ingredients.

It saved me time, reduced my mental load and helped keep the decision fatigue down.

Know Your Chronotype

There are times of the day when you work better than others, for me, I’m a morning person in general. My mind works better in the morning than in the evening for focussed or detailed tasks. Things that require a lot of thought and decisions are better earlier. That’s not to say that other times of the day are wasted, but I need to plan suitable tasks for my focus level at the time. For me, this means my day looks a little like this:

6am-9am – I will work through a pre-written plan of tasks. I can think, but I need to have a list to tell me what I need to do.

9am-lunchtime – I’m at my mental best here, great for thinking of ideas, writing reports, checking over documents, putting together plans and action lists.

After lunch–mid afternoon – Similar to early mornings, I work best working through a pre-written task list, but these are often a bit more creative like creating graphics or working on a document design.

Evening – Tasks that I know inside out. This isn’t a time for me to learn how to do something new, I just won’t take the information in.

If you’re not sure what your chronotype is, or it would be helpful to know how to harness its power, head over the my chronotype resource here. You can read more about chronotypes and take a quick quiz to find out or confirm yours, and read a further insight.

Task Lists

This is planning, just by a slightly different name 😉 You’re deciding what you need to do, and then you can sidestep decisions and just get on with it. This is linked with your chronotype in that there will be times of the day when you’re better at deciding on the tasks required and times when you need that prescriptive approach and you can get on with things.

My planning time is in the slightly later morning; I’ll plan the day ahead, as well as a weekly and monthly plan as needed. I do also put together a shorter list of urgent things later in the day, and this is something that I can pick up first thing the next day.

These are 3 things that you can use to manage your decision levels and avoid decision fatigue. There will always be some decisions that you can’t avoid or delegate, and these strategies are about managing what you can, so that when you need to make those decisions you haven’t been bogged down already.

I’d love to hear about your ways of dealing with decisions, so do drop a comment here 👇🏻

PS – now I’ve finished the article, here’s the example where I’ve put it into ChatGPT for title ideas. These are the generated ideas:

1. “Combatting Decision Fatigue: How AI Can Lighten Your Mental Load”

2. “Streamline Your Life: Using AI to Simplify Everyday Decisions”

3. “From Overwhelmed to Organized: My Journey with AI and Decision Fatigue”

4. “AI to the Rescue: Reducing Decision Fatigue in Work and Life”

5. “Maximizing Productivity: How AI Can Help You Beat Decision Fatigue”

6. “Conquer Decision Fatigue with AI: Practical Tips and Personal Insights”

7. “AI as Your Decision-Making Sidekick: A New Approach to Mental Efficiency”

8. “Less Stress, More Clarity: How AI Helps Manage Decision Fatigue”

9. “Simplify Your Day: How I Use AI to Cut Down on Decision Overload”

10. “The Smart Way to Make Fewer Decisions: Lev1. “Combatting Decision Fatigue: How AI Can Lighten Your Mental Load”