Battling Decision Fatigue: Two Practices That Help Me Stay Grounded

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to God, and God will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5–6 (NIV, adapted)

Life and ministry are filled with decisions. Some days, the sheer number of choices I have to make from what’s for dinner to how to lead a ministry event feels chaotic (I end up DoorDashing or falling asleep - sometimes both!). If you’ve ever ended the day mentally exhausted and unsure if you made the right calls, you’ve experienced what’s called decision fatigue.

Over time, I’ve learned that while I can’t avoid decisions, I can ease the mental load. Two practices help me the most: creating systems and clarifying my values.

Create Systems to Simplify Decisions

A system is simply a template, a rhythm, or a routine that makes the decision-making process easier. Instead of starting from scratch every time, I lean on something I’ve already built.

It can be as simple as meal planning. I know what foods go together and which meals my family enjoys, so I’m not reinventing the wheel every week.

In ministry, it’s templates for recurring events. Why recreate the process for the annual volunteer appreciation dinner or the fall kickoff event? A good system gives you a place to start and when something needs tweaking, you adjust the system, not your entire brainpower.

So where in your life or ministry are you making the same decisions over and over? Can you create a checklist, a rhythm, or a template to lighten the load next time?

Filter Decisions Through Your Values

Even with systems in place, I seek to live a principled life. That’s where my values help me make choices with less regret and confusion.

For me, those values are:

• Faith: Will this decision grow my faith or challenge me to trust God more?

• Family: Does this bring life to my family? Does it help us stay connected? Or is it pulling me away in ways I need to be mindful of?

• Fulfillment: Am I caring for my own sense of purpose and joy, not just serving others at the expense of my well-being?

Sometimes, living out these values means making tough calls. Like choosing to travel for a speaking engagement, even though it means being away from my family for a night or two because that work allows me to put my faith in action, stretch me or simply I enjoy it. (imagine that!)

But I never want to make those decisions without reflecting on what matters most.

So what values guide your life and leadership? How can those values help you filter out distractions and focus on what really matters?

At The End of the Day

God doesn’t ask us to carry the weight of every decision on our own. Proverbs reminds us to trust in God and lean on God’s direction. Creating systems and clarifying values are ways we submit our lives to God’s wisdom, making space for rest, peace, and clarity. It's easier said that done, I know but it's a practice that we can get better with other time.

If you’re tired of decision fatigue, take some time this week to:

✔ Identify one area where you could build a simple system.

✔ Reflect on your top 3–5 values and how they could guide your next big (or small) decision.

I’d love to hear: what systems or values are helping you in this season. Better yet, join me in The Discipleship Gap Workshop where we create space to listen to God and identify or reconnect with our values. It happens Thursday July 17. Sign up here