Decision Fatigue: Mental Exhaustion in Managers and Ways to Make Better Decisions

Decision fatigue erodes attention and judgement in managers who decide all day. Symptoms, effects on work and practical ways to reduce the decision load.

A factory manager who opens the first email at eight in the morning will have made dozens of decisions by noon: which order to bring forward, when to stop the faulty line, whether to approve a leave request, how to respond to a supplier's price quote. By the time an important investment decision reaches the table at an afternoon meeting, their mind is no longer as clear as it was in the morning. They either put the decision off or choose the "easiest" option. Decision fatigue is a term used to describe the tendency of people who have to make decision after decision all day to make lower-quality decisions over time, to avoid deciding, or to make impulsive choices. In this article I look at the effect of decision fatigue on managers, how it reflects on the business, and practical ways to reduce the decision load.

What Is Decision Fatigue?

Every decision, however small, requires mental effort: weighing options, considering possible consequences, tolerating uncertainty and taking responsibility. During the day this effort accumulates. The concept rests on the idea that this build-up gradually strains a person's attention, self-control and judgement.

To be scientifically honest, some of the early experimental findings that "willpower is depleted like a muscle" have struggled to be replicated in later years and have been the subject of debate. For that reason it is more accurate to treat decision fatigue not as a "depletion mechanism" with firm boundaries, but as an everyday experience in which long working hours, constant interruptions, sleeplessness and heavy responsibility combine to lower decision quality. The great majority of managers recognise this experience: the feeling at the end of the day of "I can't think any more", being undecided even over a simple choice, or hurriedly saying "OK" on an important matter.

What Are the Symptoms of Decision Fatigue?

This condition often develops quietly. The people around the manager notice certain changes before the manager does. Common signs are:

• Procrastination: Important decisions always left for "tomorrow", emails piling up unanswered.
• Falling back on the default: Choosing what has always been done, or whatever takes the least effort, instead of weighing the options.
• Impulsive decisions: Approvals or rejections given without enough thought, with a "just get it over with" feeling.
• Excessive caution: Avoiding risk altogether, asking for additional information and reports on every matter.
• Indecision and anxiety: Going back and forth for a long time even on simple choices, constantly questioning a decision once made.
• Irritability: Growing impatience with questions and requests from the team.
• Physical tiredness: Headaches, difficulty concentrating and marked mental exhaustion at the end of the day.

Some of these symptoms may come not only from decision load but also from general work stress, sleep problems or anxiety. If the symptoms have continued for a long time and affect day-to-day functioning, they should not be brushed off as simply "a busy period".

Why Is Decision Fatigue Increasing Among Managers?

Today's working life has increased managers' decision load in many ways:

• Uninterrupted communication: Instant messaging apps, email and the phone keep the manager open to small requests for decisions all day. Every notification means broken attention and a new small decision.
• Weak delegation: In many businesses even the smallest expense or leave request goes through senior management for approval. This structure fills the manager with unnecessary decisions.
• Uncertainty: Economic fluctuations, changing costs and rapidly shifting market conditions make it hard to predict the results of decisions. The more uncertainty grows, the heavier every decision feels.
• Long working hours: According to the ILO's 2026 report, 35% of workers worldwide work more than 48 hours a week (ILO, 2026). Long hours shorten the time for rest and recovery.
• Time pressure: 43% of European workplaces report time pressure as a risk factor (EU-OSHA, 2025).

Managers' own wellbeing is also weakening. According to Gallup's 2026 report, manager engagement stands at 22%, down 9 points since 2022 (Gallup, 2026). Middle managers, who are trying to meet target pressure from above and team demands from below, sit in the layer where the decision load is heaviest.

The Impact of Decisions Made by a Tired Mind on the Business

Decisions a manager makes with a tired mind affect not only themselves but the whole business. This effect matters particularly for production and occupational safety:

• Safety decisions are postponed: Decisions such as stopping a machine for maintenance or suspending a risky task can be put off when production pressure and fatigue combine.
• The team is left in uncertainty: Employees waiting for a decision either hold back from taking initiative or make inconsistent decisions on their own.
• Errors increase: Mistakes in pricing, ordering and planning directly raise costs.
• Communication hardens: A tired manager can be more impatient and critical towards employees, which weakens psychological safety in the team.
• The ground is prepared for burnout: Chronic decision load, loss of a sense of control and constantly being on alert can turn into burnout in the long term.

A review of shift work and working hours reported that safety worsens as working hours lengthen, and that risk in the 12th hour of a shift is more than double the average of the first 8 hours (Folkard and Tucker, 2003). This finding is not directly about managers' decision quality; but it is a reminder of the general principle that long hours increase risk in work that demands attention.

Practical Ways to Reduce Decision Fatigue

It is not possible to eliminate decision fatigue completely; it is possible, however, to reduce the decision load and place decisions at the right time. The methods below can be applied by individual managers and by organisations alike.

At the individual level

1. Move important decisions to the early part of the day. Plan strategic decisions for the hours when your mind is at its freshest. Leave routine approvals and emails for later in the day.
2. Automate small decisions. Set fixed rules for meeting days, routine reports and repeated approvals. Avoid having to decide afresh every time.
3. Batch notifications. Looking at messages and emails at set times during the day reduces constant interruption of attention.
4. Adopt the "good enough" principle. Not every decision has to be perfect. Acting quickly on reversible decisions lets you give more time to irreversible ones.
5. Put decisions in writing. On a complex matter, writing down the options, criteria and possible outcomes in a short list moves the mental load outside your head.
6. Look after breaks and sleep. Short breaks, getting fully away from work at lunchtime and enough sleep are the foundation of decision quality. If you have sleep problems, information on how insomnia passes may guide you.

At the organisational level

• Review the authority matrix. Define clearly which decisions are made at which level. Giving foremen, supervisors and middle managers clear areas of authority reduces senior management's decision load and increases ownership in the team.
• Simplify meeting culture. Give every meeting a purpose, an agenda and a decision owner. Meetings that produce no decisions only accumulate fatigue.
• Create standard operating procedures. Written procedures for frequently recurring situations remove the need to think things through afresh each time.
• Set limits on out-of-hours communication. A company policy that limits messaging after hours, except in emergencies, makes room for managers to recover.
• Offer support to managers. A space where managers can talk about their own wellbeing lets them feel they are not carrying the decision load alone. This space can be a peer group, regular one-to-one conversations or confidentiality-assured individual counselling. What matters is that the manager can step out, from time to time, of the role of "the person who has to know everything".

Watching thought patterns

What makes decisions difficult is not always the decision itself; often it is the thoughts that accompany deciding. Some patterns frequently seen in the cognitive behavioural approach make managers feel the decision load as heavier than it is:

• Catastrophising: "If I get this decision wrong, everything will be ruined." Yet most business decisions can be reversed or corrected.
• All-or-nothing thinking: "Either I make a perfect decision or I fail." Decisions mostly sit somewhere between "better" and "less good".
• Over-responsibility: "I alone am responsible for the outcome of everything." This thought makes delegation and seeking the team's views harder.
• Mind reading: "If I make this decision, everyone will think I'm inadequate." Treating other people's reactions as certain knowledge in advance deepens indecision.

When you notice these thoughts you can ask yourself: What is the worst, the best and the most likely outcome of this decision? Can this decision be reversed? What would I advise a colleague I trust in the same situation? These questions do not remove anxiety, but they bring the decision into a more realistic frame. If you experience intense and constant anxiety in the face of uncertainty, it may also help to learn about anxiety symptoms.

Good decisions are made not only with information but with a rested mind.

Say the production manager of a food factory personally answers every question that comes from the shift supervisors during the day. In the evenings they have no energy left to plan the next day, and important maintenance decisions are put off for weeks. When a written list of authority is prepared for the shift supervisors so that they make their own decisions on certain matters, the manager's daily number of decisions falls and the time they can give to strategic matters rises. The supervisors also feel they are taking on more responsibility. The manager also moves strategic decisions to the first hours of the morning and routine approvals to the afternoon, and begins to look at messages in batches three times a day. Within a few weeks the postponed maintenance decisions are dealt with one by one, and the manager goes home in the evenings less drained. What changed in this example is not the manager's personality but the distribution and timing of the decision load.

How to Get Started in Your Organisation

Although decision load looks like an individual problem, it often comes from the organisational structure. The solution should therefore be planned at the organisational level too.

1. Needs analysis: Examine your managers' decision flow over a week. Which decisions should really be made at their level, and which can be delegated? Run a short anonymous survey of managers on workload, interruptions, working hours and sleep. You can also add this information to the psychosocial section of your risk assessment; in the ISO 45003 guidance, workload and work organisation are among the main headings of psychosocial hazards.

2. Programme: Based on the analysis results, update the authority matrix, set meeting and communication rules, and plan training for managers. This training can cover time management, decision-making skills, stress management and healthy communication with the team. In the WHO's guidelines on mental health at work, mental health training for managers stands out as the recommendation with the strongest evidence (WHO, 2022). For details see the article on mental health training for managers.

3. Measurement: Repeat the same survey after three and six months. The workload reported by managers, time worked outside hours, the number of postponed decisions, and absence and turnover rates in teams are indicators that can be tracked.

You can find training and counselling options for managers on the corporate services page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is decision fatigue scientifically proven?

It is generally accepted that intense mental effort lasting all day, and long working hours, can adversely affect attention and judgement. However, some of the early experimental findings explaining the mechanism of this effect are disputed. For that reason it is more accurate to use the concept not as a definite diagnosis or mechanism but as a framework describing an everyday experience.

Are decision fatigue and burnout the same thing?

No. Decision fatigue is usually a mental tiredness that appears during the day and eases with rest. Burnout, according to the WHO definition, is an occupational phenomenon resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed, marked by exhaustion, mental distance from one's job and reduced sense of efficacy. A decision load left unmanaged for a long time can contribute to burnout.

How can managers recognise mental fatigue?

Constantly postponing decisions, drifting towards the easiest option, impulsive approvals, growing irritability and marked mental exhaustion at the end of the day are important signs. A short self-assessment or feedback from a colleague you trust can increase awareness.

What should the first step be to reduce the decision load?

The most effective first step is usually delegation. Work out which decisions need to be made at your level and hand the rest over to your team with clear rules. This step both reduces your load and contributes to your team's development.

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Eda Erkan Alapala

Klinik Psikolog. İstanbul Kent Üniversitesi Klinik Psikoloji Tezli Yüksek Lisans mezunu; bilişsel davranışçı terapi, çocuk merkezli oyun terapisi ve çocuk-ergen psikoterapisi alanlarında eğitimlerini tamamlamıştır.

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