Decision Making Overload

Mia J. Hammock

November 19, 2015

Decision Making Overload

After my first day of work in as a 2LT as the Headquarters Platoon Leader in Alpha Company, 203rd Brigade Support Battalion. I found myself sprawled face down on the carpet of my new apartment. I was so tired from physical fitness training at 500 am that morning, needed to buy a new couch and bed, finish assignments that needed to be turned in by 730 am the next morning, to walk the dog, but after deciding the quickest route to take between home and work, choosing and setting up a dozen new account passwords, I was totally useless. My husband asked me what I wanted to eat for dinner, I really didn’t care, as long as I didn’t have to think a menu. It turns out there’s a logical explanation for what I was experiencing: Decision Exhaustion. In other words, decision-making can be extremely overwhelming.

Emotions impact our decisions daily, which is very essential; and of all the valuable life skills a person can develop, the ability to make wise decisions ranks at the very top. As stated in the video, it is impossible to make rational decisions without feeling emotions. The worst thing someone could do is act on emotions based off of his/or her mood. Anger, Sadness, etc., no other skill has such a dramatic impact on our quality of life and yet, society seems to be overwhelmed with those who consistently make bad decisions.

Just as it was shown on the video, it was showed that when people have the option to choose between ten different options on one table six different options on another, the table with ten options actually have the people more exhausting with so many options to choose compared to the table with six which means that the less choices to choose from, the better. That is the same with big purchases such as a car or a television. That is a very big decision you have to make and I must say it best to go with your intuition on it. Like I stated before, acting on such emotions or moods like...