The first is state of mind: our current attitude toward the change we’re facing.

Kanti tells her clients to keep the three S’s in mind when they’re facing a difficult decision. The next step is realizing that all of our choices are influenced by factors both within and outside ourselves. Even if we don’t know what decisions we want to make, realizing that we have agency in our own lives can be empowering.

And that, according to certified life coach and author Anita Kanti, is our own choices.

That doesn’t come naturally to most people, so latching on to what you can control often helps. But a mystery, like do I want to change my career, or move, those don’t have clear-cut answers.” One of the first steps to solving these mysteries, or “wild problems,” as Roberts calls them, is recognizing that uncertainty is uncomfortable and then embracing that feeling. “Puzzles tend to have solutions, and that’s very comforting. “I make a distinction between a puzzle and a mystery,” he explains. Realizing what kind of decision you’re facing makes a difference in how you approach it, points out Russ Roberts, economist and author of Wild Problems. But there’s a difference between picking a type of cereal in the morning and a new career path. Of course, we can’t get away from making choices in life. If you’re someone who also has a hard time staying focused or managing your emotions and mood due to ADHD, anxiety or depression or other mental health concerns, Jackson notes that this decision fatigue is likely to hit you even harder. “Our brains are functioning sort of like teens’, having a harder time making decisions, plans and focusing.” “It's why we expect teenagers to be more prone to making bad decisions because they have less mature networks and pathways and those executive functions,” Jackson adds. That incessant barrage of calculations means our brains have fewer resources to support executive functions that get strengthened over time, chief among them the ability to make decisions. And these past two-plus years have been constantly navigating change.” “Change takes mental engagement to do things differently. Rebecca Jackson, a certified cognitive specialist for Brain Balance. “When we are facing stress, especially when it's prolonged chronic stress, it drains our mental resources,” explains Dr. The brain is a muscle, and just like our biceps and glutes, it gets fatigued after lots of exercise. There’s a neurological reason so many of us are struggling right now. Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to play Why we’re struggling with decision-making The good news is, there’s a reason why making decisions feels especially hard right now, and expert strategies to make the path forward a little clearer, no matter where you’re looking to go. This bears out especially for parents and people of color, whose lives have been disproportionately upended over the past few years. And slightly more than three in five people (61%) said the last couple of years has made them rethink how they’re living their lives. More than one-third said it has been more stressful to make day-to-day decisions (36%) and major life decisions (35%) compared with before the pandemic. And the impact stretches from the day-to-day and beyond. Over the last couple of years, a massive amount of stress and uncertainty has resulted in a high level of decision fatigue, or difficulty making moves both large and small.Ī 2021 survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of the American Psychological Association found that almost one-third of adults (32%) said sometimes they’re so stressed about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that they struggle to make basic decisions, with Millennials faring the worst at 48%. Many of us are struggling to figure out the smallest things (What should we have for dinner? Should we go to that concert this weekend?) or even begin to tackle the big stuff (What’s my next career move? Should we have kids? Am I going to get married?). If you’re feeling stuck lately, you’re not alone.

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