GUEST POST BY Wendy Jenkins OAM, READY RESILIENCE
Ready Resilience helps organisations thrive during times of change and challenge, using practical neuroscience-based resilience tools that have been proven to offer in-the-moment solutions and long-lasting results. Learn actionable tips you can apply right away in Ready Resilience Founder Wendy Jenkins’ articles, written exclusively for the TEMi community.
Why too many small decisions leave us with less capacity for the ones that matter.
Throughout the day, the prefrontal cortex is constantly engaged in planning, prioritising, problem solving and making decisions. As these executive functions have limited cognitive capacity, the brain cannot maintain the same level of mental efficiency indefinitely.
One helpful way to think about this is as a brain budget.
Every unnecessary decision, interruption and competing priority draws on cognitive resources that could otherwise be used for the work that matters most.
Consider how many decisions you make before lunch.
Should I answer this email now or later? Which task comes first? Is this meeting worth attending? Do I call or send a Teams message? Should I finish this report or respond to a ‘quick question’?
None of these decisions seems particularly demanding. Yet collectively, they consume mental resources that could otherwise be directed towards more complex thinking.
This helps explain why important decisions can feel harder later in the day. We are more likely to postpone difficult conversations, choose familiar options, or avoid making a decision altogether. It is not because we have become less capable. It is because our cognitive resources have been steadily occupied by the many decisions that came before.
The good news is that organisations and individuals can help protect their brain budget.
Reducing unnecessary choices, creating simple routines, clarifying priorities, and agreeing on consistent ways of working all preserve mental capacity for the decisions that matter most. Even planning tomorrow’s priorities before finishing today can reduce the number of decisions waiting the following morning.
Just as we think carefully about how we spend our financial budget, it is worth considering how we spend our brain budget. By becoming more deliberate about when we make routine decisions, we leave ourselves better equipped for the decisions that genuinely deserve our full attention.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Wendy Jenkins is the founder of Ready Resilience, Co-Founder of the Lungitude Foundation, certified Neuroplastician, Speaker and Lung Transplant Survivor. Ready Resilience helps organisations thrive during times of change and challenge, using practical neuroscience-based resilience tools that have been proven to offer in the-moment solutions and long-lasting results.
Having been told she had two years to live over eighteen years ago, Wendy is passionate about empowering people to transform their perspective on life’s challenges through dynamic masterclasses, workshops, and certified resilience training. To learn how Wendy can support and inspire you at your next conference, leadership event, or personal development session, please email we***@*************ce.com or visit www.readyresilience.com.
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