The Decision Fatigue Loop: Why You Can Manage a Big Work Project but Not Pick a Netflix Movie

You closed a six-figure deal today.

Nailed the presentation. Made the tough call on staffing. Chose between three major suppliers with zero hesitation.

Then 5pm hits.

Someone asks what's for dinner and your brain just... stops.

You stand in front of the pantry for 10 minutes. You can't even decide between pasta or chicken. Your partner asks what you want to watch tonight and you genuinely feel like crying because picking a Netflix show feels physically impossible.

What is happening?

The Decision Fatigue Paradox

This isn't you being dramatic. This is your brain doing exactly what it's designed to do when it runs out of fuel.

Decision fatigue doesn't stop you from making important decisions. It degrades your ability to make low-stakes choices that still require mental energy.

Your prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain responsible for decision-making, depletes glucose throughout the day. Every single choice you make uses up a bit more. By evening, you're running on fumes.

But why can you still pull off a huge work project or nail a client presentation ... while feeling totally paralysed by a streaming service?

Because your brain prioritises. High-stakes decisions get the remaining mental energy because they carry real consequences. Your depleted brain musters the focus needed because it has to.

Low-stakes choices? They become victims of accumulated cognitive load.

The Invisible Decisions Mums Make Every Day

Before you even opened your laptop today, you'd already made dozens of decisions.

What you wore. What the kids wore. Whether that shirt was clean enough. What everyone ate for breakfast. Whether to pack sandwiches or buy lunch. Which permission slip needed signing. Whether your daughter's cough warranted staying home. What time to leave to avoid traffic.

And that's just before 8am.

By the time you're choosing between Project A and Project B at work, you've already burned through hundreds of micro-decisions. Your male colleague who lives alone and grabbed whatever was in his fridge this morning? He's starting from a completely different baseline.

This is what we talk about when we say mental load. It's not just remembering things. It's the constant, invisible decision-making that happens in the background of your life.

Every. Single. Day.

Why Netflix Feels Harder Than Your Business Strategy

You know that feeling when you scroll for 20 minutes and still can't pick something to watch?

That's choice overload meeting decision fatigue.

Research shows that when you're faced with too many similar options and no clear "best" answer, your depleted brain does one of two things: avoids the decision altogether or makes an impulsive choice just to end the mental burden.

A big work project might be complex, but it has clear parameters. There are measurable outcomes. Defined risks. A framework for evaluation.

Netflix at 9pm? Thousands of options. No real stakes. No wrong answer. But also no clear right answer.

Your exhausted brain looks at that and goes: "Absolutely not."

The complexity of decisions matters alongside their quantity. You might make one big strategic decision at work, but choosing what to watch requires scrolling, reading descriptions, weighing preferences, anticipating whether you'll actually like it, considering what your partner wants...

It's death by a thousand tiny choices.

The 5 PM Wall

You know exactly what I'm talking about.

That moment when your capacity just... ends.

➔ You can lead a team meeting at 4pm but can't answer "what do you want for dinner?" at 5pm
➔ You make critical budget decisions before lunch but order the same coffee every afternoon because choosing feels too hard
➔ You negotiate contracts in the morning but say "I don't care, you pick" when your partner asks about weekend plans
➔ You can write detailed strategy documents but stare blankly at your wardrobe trying to pick tomorrow's outfit

This isn't weakness. This isn't lack of organisation or poor time management.

This is a nervous system issue, not a character flaw.

Your brain has a finite amount of decision-making capacity each day. When it's gone, it's gone. No amount of willpower changes that.

What Makes It Worse for Mums

If you're managing a household on top of your work, you're making approximately 35,000 decisions per day.

Actually sit with that number for a moment.

35,000.

Most of those decisions are invisible. No one sees them. No one credits them. They don't show up in your job description or your partner's mental load.

But your brain registers every single one.

What makes it even harder? The decisions never stop being yours.

You can delegate tasks. But the mental load of deciding what needs delegating, when, to whom, and then following up? That stays with you.

Your brain doesn't get to clock off at 5pm. It's still running the household operations, tracking everyone's schedules, planning tomorrow, remembering what's in the fridge, calculating whether you need to stop at the shops.

No wonder you can't pick a Netflix show.

The Cost of Constant Decision-Making

This isn't just about feeling a bit tired.

Decision fatigue has real consequences:

When your decision-making capacity is depleted, you become more impulsive. That's why you're more likely to grab chocolate at 3pm, say yes to things you don't have bandwidth for, or lose patience with your kids by dinner time.

You're not failing. Your brain is doing exactly what exhausted brains do.

It takes shortcuts. It avoids decisions. It makes choices just to make the mental burden stop.

And when you're constantly operating from a depleted state, everything feels harder. Parenting feels harder. Work feels harder. Relationships feel harder.

Because you're trying to function on an empty tank.

What Actually Helps

You don't need another productivity hack.

You don't need to "just be more organised" or "plan better."

You need to understand how your nervous system actually works and give it what it needs to regulate and recover.

That's where the Decision Fatigue Reset comes in.

This isn't about adding more to your plate. It's about teaching your nervous system to recognise depletion earlier, regulate more effectively, and recover faster.

It's designed around how your brain actually works, not how wellness influencers think it should work.

No meditation apps you'll use twice. No morning routines that require waking at 5am. No advice that ignores the reality of your life.

Just practical, evidence-based tools that work with your nervous system, not against it.

Because you deserve to get to 5pm and still have enough capacity to make simple decisions without feeling like you're going to break.

You deserve to close your laptop and not feel completely depleted.

You deserve to have energy left for yourself.

You've Carried This Long Enough

If you've read this far, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

You're living it every day.

Making impossible amounts of decisions while pretending you're fine. Holding it all together while your capacity quietly drains away.

The Decision Fatigue Reset is designed specifically for this. For you.

For the mum who can run a business but can't decide what's for dinner. Who can solve complex problems but stands frozen in front of her wardrobe. Who gives everything to everyone else and has nothing left by evening.

Ready to break the cycle?

Get the Decision Fatigue Reset here

Your brain doesn't need to work harder.

It needs to work smarter.

Let's make that happen.

Hayley x