Yay, I missed loads of deadlines
And how to optimize for making the decisions that matter
Welcome to RemoteThatWorks, a weekly-ish newsletter hand-typed by the Valentina Thörner, the Empress of Remote. I talk about product leadership (and ops), process design, and people (and their relationships). Proudly non-AI, and proudly all-opinions-my-own. Subscribe so you don’t miss out on the next post.
Here are the things I missed out on during my vacation trip:
A free course about AI tools (first 100 sign-ups only)
A 25% discount for my favourite running brand
A last minute opportunity to lock in the price of a software
A next-day webinar invitation with a famous speaker.
After deleting all of those emails, I realized how many decisions I did not have to make - simply for being too late.
I did not have to decide whether to sign up for yet another course.
I didn’t agonize over whether to replace my running shorts now or later.
I didn’t force a decision on a specific software.
I did not feel the pressure to show up for yet another webinar.
Maybe that’s the reason why email feels so draining. It’s not the number of emails per se, it’s the number of decisions your inbox expects you to make all! the! time!
Decision fatigue is real
Here’s a detour:
For my second wedding, we decided to go with a wedding planner. I learned about the two basic business models:
Wedding planners who work for a fixed fee (usually in the thousands). They have some recommended vendors, but you are free to choose whomever you feel like.
Wedding planners who get paid through the commissions of their vendors. In this case you commit to working with one of their vendors.
For the wedding planner in the second group, there’s a certain incentive to optimize for the vendors with a higher commission. How do you do that?
Decision fatigue!
You make sure the couple has to answer loads of detailed questions until they literally don’t care anymore whether the table cloth is white, cream, beige or off-white. THAT’S when you reccommend the (expensive) dessert cart as an alternative to discussing fourteen desert options.
Nine times out of ten the couple will choose the dessert cart because there’s no energy left for yet another decision.
Or, in other words: there’s a limited amount of decisions you get to make every day.
Optimizing for making the right decisions
There are two main options (and a thousand combinations) to avoid decision fatigue and keep your decision making mojo for those crucial decisions.
Don’t engage in places where you’d be confronted with low-impact decisions.
Create rules that make the decisions for you.
My unintended email hiatus that had me miss those deadlines - that’s an example for ignoring small-impact decisions.
It’s also an example why starting your day in your email inbox may not be the best use of your decision energy.
You can create a rule out of that insight, e.g. “No email before 12pm.”
Or you can be more specific:
Unsubscribe from every marketing list, yes, even your favourite brand. You can resubscribe when you really need something.
Free courses are an immediate “no” until you’ve finished the last one you signed up for.
Same menu every week - so Wednesday is Quiche day #SorryNotSorry
Seriously, you can front load decisions EVERYWHERE. From the type of plants you allow into your indoor jungle, the type (and amount) of clothing you own, the food you eat, to your go-to running route.
The idea is not to live your life on autopilot.
The idea is to be able to make big decisions, even if those come around at 7pm.
This post was inspired by not being online for about 10 days ;) I’d love to hear your thoughts - reply to this email and you might spark another newsletter. And if you are looking for a mentor with a pragmatic approach, reach out via MentorCruise or get in touch directly.