Yes and no

Half of the troubles of this life can be traced to saying yes too quickly and not saying no soon enough.

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Thoughtfully giving and receiving decisions

Decision fatigue is a well-known effect. I’ve long since learned to be mindful of when I am going to encounter this, and to take steps to avoid or reduce it. There’s a paradox where I used to want the option to make decisions, while not having the energy to make good decisions.

Also long ago, I started intentionally reigning in the urge to have an opinion when a decision is available. I now think, “do I want to have an opinion on this?” and I try to steer myself towards, “no.” There are countless examples, but they most often fall into, what I’ll call, refinements. This is when something is happening, and it is happening because I’m following someone’s lead. Our culture encourages that leader to solicit opinions; I’m presented a dinner invitation, but asked, “where would you like to eat?” These refinements come in a huge variety, but usually, that leader had an idea in mind when they set the ball rolling. These days, whenever I can, I don’t add an opinion to the mix.

I’ve gotten really good at not having an opinion. In fact, I’ve realized this is now a problem. Everyone is so used to people complaining—about everything; the movie, the food, the traffic—that they assume I too am going to complain later, after going along with their choice.

Each of us needs to practice giving the gift of making thoughtful choices for others. Each of us needs to practice accepting those gifts graciously, (up front, and during and after without complaint.)

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Stop deciding what to wear. Stop deciding what to eat for breakfast. Stop deciding when to check email. Batch your decisions into automated systems so your brain energy goes to the 3 things that actually matter today. Steve Jobs wore the same outfit every day. Not because he had no taste — because decision fatigue is real.

#Automation #DecisionFatigue

The future

No amount of sophistication is going to allay the fact that all your knowledge is about the past and all your decisions are about the future.

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Coding agents accelerate decision fatigue, leading to accepting decisions due to lack of energy to push back or think of alternative approaches. Slow down.

#AI #ClaudeCode #DecisionFatigue