What is decision burnout?

Decision burnout, or decision fatigue, is the exhaustion that builds when you have made too many decisions for too long. Each choice draws on a finite cognitive resource, and when it is depleted even minor choices feel overwhelming.

What are the signs of decision fatigue?

Signs include small choices feeling paralysing, avoiding or deferring decisions, making worse decisions later in the day, procrastinating on important choices, and feeling irritable when pushed to decide.

How do you recover from decision burnout?

Aggressively reduce decision volume: standardise recurring choices, delegate lower-stakes decisions, and create decision-free zones so you reserve cognitive capacity for what matters.

Why is decision burnout often mistaken for laziness?

Because the person is not physically tired and the work of deciding feels invisible, it is easily misread as procrastination or indecisiveness. The cognitive depletion behind it, however, is real and measurable.

Decision Burnout — Symptoms, Causes & Recovery

Learn about decision burnout: what it feels like, who it affects, and how to recover. Plain-English guide by Mat Gil.

Take the free burnout quiz — 10 questions, 2 minutes