[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:06] Hi there. Welcome back to the Confessions in the Home Office podcast. I'm Wendy Hill, and I've been running my marketing business out of my house for over 20 years now. That's 20 years of juggling clients, content launches, zoom calls, booking travel, and raising kids and lots of dogs.
[00:00:24] So let me just say, I really love this work. I love helping people with their marketing. I love building strategies, writing content, and solving business problems. But I have a confession for you today. I can plan a full marketing campaign. I can brainstorm Storm 45 topics for a video shoot. I can get a client's Google Ad account unlocked after eight years of them being banned from advertising. All before lunch. But by 6pm, if you ask me what's for dinner, I want to crawl under the desk and hide.
[00:00:56] So today I'm talking about the thing that happens for a lot of us, especially business owners, and it's called decision fatigue. The first time I heard that, I was like, quit putting fancy names for things. Just saying you're quiet or you're tired and want everything to be quiet by the end of the day.
[00:01:11] But I want to talk to you about why it's so intense for people like us who run our own businesses and what we can do to protect our brains a little bit better.
[00:01:20] So what is decision fatigue?
[00:01:23] It's a fancy term for something we've all felt. It's what happens when your brain gets completely overloaded from making too many choices during the day. It doesn't matter how big or small the decisions are. Your mental energy is limited, and every decision chips away at it. I think about, like an hourglass and how the sand just kind of just keeps running out. Slowly, slowly, slowly. Then the top part, like your brain is empty.
[00:01:48] That's. That's how I kind of visualize decision fatigue. And when you're in a. When you're a business owner that's working from home, you're not just making a few key decisions each day, you're making dozens. And I would say you're making more than dozens. You're probably making hundreds. That is one thing I've never tracked, but probably should, to see how many.
[00:02:07] So here's a few just from this morning.
[00:02:10] Number one, I'm waiting to hear back from a client, but when I do, everything else stops for an hour. So I need to check my email again.
[00:02:16] Number two, that meeting tomorrow, I need to prep more for that. Let me see what I need to do. Number three, Austin, my son who works for me. Are you awake? You have so much to do on your Trello board, Austin. It's summer. It's summer school, so he's not getting up at seven o' clock anymore.
[00:02:31] These posts are ready to go up. Let me double check them. It's time to talk to Google again about this client's ad account.
[00:02:38] Is there a new podcast episode in Riverside to edit new business emails? I need to send a few more of those this week. It's substack day. Yes, I have a pseudonym and right there about a non work subject, but I try to focus on that a couple days a week. And that membership program I'm revising from last year, I need to refinish. I need to finish recording that new content and that's just business stuff. Then there's the whole Did I order groceries from Instacart? I put something in the cart, but did I order it? Was it Instacart or was it Walmart?
[00:03:08] Did Lola, my golden retriever, eat another book or sock? She has this disorder called pica and she cannot help herself. She will eat socks, clothes, blankets, books, anything. We have to keep everything picked up, but she's very stealth Is tonight Girls Night or is that tomorrow? I can't remember. Am I supposed to be somewhere at six o' clock tonight or tomorrow? I need to check my calendar, but I'm not sure that's right.
[00:03:32] And is everyone's summer school tuition paid? Both of my kids are in college and they're both in summer school this summer and just trying to make sure everything gets handled for that. So our brains are constantly flipping between business owner decisions and everyday life decisions. So no wonder why dinner feels like the final straw for me. It may also feel like the final straw because I don't like to cook. The kitchen is just someplace where the food is stored and a place where we eat it. But all the prep and the thinking and the creativity and I like to do that in the office, not in the kitchen.
[00:04:07] So let me give you a little peek into a typical day, into my brain.
[00:04:11] Even more so than the last list I gave you. This isn't just the highlight reel and all the perfect social media content.
[00:04:17] This is the real stuff. I get up every morning, I get through the usual usual stuff with the dogs, checking email, getting ready. I either go in my office and start to work or I go to a meeting.
[00:04:28] But in between all that, I'm deciding if I want a Diet Coke or a second one. And all of you health gurus do not come after me. I'm not a big coffee drinker and I don't smoke and I don't drink much alcohol, but that is my vice.
[00:04:41] My husband and I are asking each other what we want for dinner. My office is downstairs, his is upstairs in the back of the house and he's up there when he's not teaching in person. So it's a lot of. Hey, what did you say? Huh? I can't hear you. Can you just text me? What? What was that? I'm sure you're used to that.
[00:05:00] I'm debating if I should just order groceries online or see if you'll go to the store. I only go to the grocery store maybe five times a year. I know that sounds nuts. If Instacart can't help me, no thanks. My husband, on the other hand, loves the grocery store and I am so thankful for him.
[00:05:15] So by mid afternoon, I feel like I've made 100 tiny calls, emails and texts already. I've noticed most of my clients have moved to text and we still have meetings and I see them or see them on Google Meet or zoom.
[00:05:30] But I feel like that they we once we have a pretty good relationship. They have no problem sending a text and this is probably something I should work on. But when they do send a text, I feel like I should respond as quickly as I can because it is text. It's not like email where you may not be checking it constantly throughout the day.
[00:05:49] So when 5:30 hits and my husband walks in and says, hey, did you decide what you want to eat? I'm like, are you kidding me? Just one more thing.
[00:05:58] The answer in my head is usually something like, I've made 9,000 decisions today. You want me to plan a meal too?
[00:06:04] And I'll tell you, some days I do say that he knows I'm not upset with him. My brain's just worn out. And in my world, I'm okay with some cereal at night here and there. But he loves to cook and he wants my input. He'll make anything.
[00:06:17] He wants us to eat together. Cooking is love to him and he wants to make a meal. So thank God for that.
[00:06:24] So here's the thing. Life doesn't just make us tired. Decision fatigue can impact the quality of our work. It affects our creativity, our strategic thinking, and even our ability to be present with people.
[00:06:37] So when our brains are fried, a lot of times we'll go to the easiest thing, the easiest solution, maybe not the best one.
[00:06:44] We avoid making important choices and get stuck in limbo. And I know for me, I'll procrastinate on something that's bigger because making decisions feels physically hard.
[00:06:55] We start putting off more important moves because we're so tapped out from handling everyone else's stuff.
[00:07:01] And listen, if you're managing kids, pets, groceries, meals, and still running a business, you're not imagining decision fatigue. Your brain's tired. And it's not about productivity, it's about bandwidth.
[00:07:14] So I've learned to protect my brain somewhat. I would say I'm still working on this, and maybe in a few months I need to come back and do another episode and let you know how I've improved. And hopefully I have.
[00:07:26] Here's how I manage decision fatigue in my own business, in my life. Number one, I batch everything that I can.
[00:07:33] If I'm in content mode, I'll stay in content mode, work on something for an hour or two for one client, and switch to another. But if I'm in that creativity writing, looking at their branding, it's better to stay in that mode.
[00:07:49] If it's client day and I'm out at meetings, I'm having meetings. It's client day. I try to stack as many of those back to back all day long because switching tasks constantly drains my brain. More than anything, it has been hard for me to learn how to batch.
[00:08:05] I'm a mom. I have a pack of dogs. I can do it all right.
[00:08:09] So I try to group similar tasks as much as I can. Mondays are client heavy every other week because of meetings.
[00:08:16] Tuesday is a big content day for me. Wednesdays, I do a ton of calls. It's not rigid, but it helps kind of narrow the decision field somewhat.
[00:08:25] And number two, I build in a lot of defaults. This is a big one. If I can decide something once, I don't want to keep deciding it.
[00:08:33] Is Tuesday going to be like our taco Mexican night? Yes.
[00:08:37] So is it tacos or is it fajitas or is it taco bowls? Any of those are fine, but we kind of know the theme and we go from there.
[00:08:44] My clothes are pretty much a capsule wardrobe. I get dressed 98% of the time, ready to go to a meeting. I don't get up and put on leggings and a sweatshirt or just stay in my pajamas.
[00:08:56] I get up and get ready. I could be out the door to a meeting in 10 minutes if someone called, because you just never know what the day holds. But you're always going to see me in black pants, white pants, or jeans.
[00:09:07] You're going to see me in a bright color or a black top and maybe a blazer and everything. I buy has to work with this.
[00:09:14] It just makes my life easier. And my jewelry is the same way. I have a few random pieces but just about everything works together. I even have costume jewelry on autoship that comes like the 5th of every month. I get new pieces that all work with my other pieces. I know that sounds crazy, but it works for me.
[00:09:31] I use templates for everything.
[00:09:33] Emails post client proposals, I reuse, reuse, reuse until it's time to scrap it and come up with something great that I can reuse again in my podcast. Flow is the same every week.
[00:09:45] I don't need to reinvent the wheel just to feel busy. I got tired of feeling busy years ago.
[00:09:51] Now I just want to work efficiently, smartly and still try to have a little bit of brain power. But end of the day so I can have a conversation routines and having defaults reduce my options. It may sound boring, but it actually just makes life easier. So when I think, do I still have all the stuff to do? No, it's done. Do I have 10 things left to do? I only have two things left to do and that feels amazing.
[00:10:16] So number three, I delicate the low stake stuff. This was really hard at first, but now it's becoming second nature nature. I have someone on my team who handles a lot of scheduling, post formatting, emails and even making some quick design tweaks.
[00:10:30] And at home I can't. I handle Instacart. My husband handles all the fill in last minute items at the store.
[00:10:37] Delegating is how I keep my decision making energy for the stuff that really matters.
[00:10:42] And then number four, I work from a five priorities list. Some people say, oh just do three things a day.
[00:10:48] Three is not enough. I have to do five.
[00:10:51] So every morning and actually I do most of my planning the night before when I wrap up my day.
[00:10:57] But then I may do some tweaks first thing in the morning. I choose five things I'm going to focus on. Not 10, not 20, just five.
[00:11:04] And that keeps me from going down a lot of rabbit holes, making a lot of extra decisions I don't need to make and then I'm not bouncing as much from task to task. If I get my top five done, the rest either gets delegated or it becomes optional if I want to work ahead.
[00:11:20] Number five, I give myself permission to not care.
[00:11:24] Don't think this is something where I say I don't care about my work, I don't care about my business or my clients.
[00:11:30] It just means that I know in the whole scheme of life I'M just a speck and I know that this work is just a speck.
[00:11:38] Everyone just needs to breathe. It's all going to be okay.
[00:11:42] I feel like this one might be the most important one.
[00:11:45] You know, some nights, dinner, cereal or something heated up from the freezer.
[00:11:49] Some decisions get delayed. Nothing explodes.
[00:11:53] Not everyone needs to be not every client website needs to be optimized. The second we can work through and make sure everything's done correctly, quickly, of course, but make sure we do it the right way and make sure that it's going to work for them.
[00:12:08] And sometimes being a perfectionist with things just drags things out and causes other delays.
[00:12:16] You need to kind of figure out where you're good enough is so it's good, it's error free and just go with that.
[00:12:23] So here's the truth. Running a business from home isn't just about being productive or disciplined. It's about managing your mental load and your capacity for making decisions. And if dinner feels like the final straw, it's not because you're failing. It's because you've been the CEO, the content creator, the strategist, the salesperson, the client manager, the tech support, and the grocery Planner all before 6pm and that is a lot.
[00:12:49] So if you're listening to this thinking, yep, that's me.
[00:12:52] I do see you.
[00:12:54] You're not alone and you're not doing it wrong. You're just a little tired from thinking so much.
[00:12:59] And hey, next time you're staring at the fridge like it's a puzzle without an image on the COVID of a box and you don't know what to do, just remember you're not alone. You're just using your brain on other things.
[00:13:11] So that's it for today's episode. I hope that you will follow like Share Comment Rate this podcast. It helps other people find it and if you have any questions, you can always email me at Wendy W E N d
[email protected] and I'll see you next week.
