Navigating Decision Fatigue When
Designing Your Home
Decision fatigue is a silent killer of inspiration and motivation when you’re designing a home. It’s part of the reason why hiring a designer is so helpful — we can guide you through the process, recognize when you’re overwhelmed, and make informed decisions when you’re unable to.
The Harvard Business Review suggests that we make 33,000 to 35,000 decisions per day.
Let that number sink in for a minute.
Now, most of these decisions happen subconsciously. But to put that into perspective, the average person blinks only 15,000 to 20,000 times a day (Source: Healthline). The average daily decisions we make are almost double the number of times we blink. No wonder you’re exhausted!
Let’s talk about how to ease your decision fatigue when you’re designing your home.
What is decision fatigue?
According to The Decision Lab, “Decision fatigue describes how the quality of our decision-making declines as we make additional choices, as our cognitive abilities get worn out.”
When we have too many decisions to make and/or we have too many options to choose from, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and shut down. In the interiors world, there are thousands and thousands of paint colours, decor shops, and trends to filter through before you can make a decision. Add in the financial pressure of saving up to make changes in your home, a deadline like hosting a holiday dinner, and suddenly just choosing a new duvet cover feels like Mission Impossible.
We all have our own threshold for being able to make decisions comfortably. But sometimes it’s tough to notice when you’re reaching the point of no return. My hope is that this blog post will give you a general idea of how decision fatigue shows up for you, so you can avoid the added stress and turmoil that comes from pushing past your limits and making a big decision under duress.
You might be experiencing decision fatigue if…
Let’s imagine you’ve just had a tough day at work – or maybe a string of really tough days.
You come home, open your fridge to make dinner, and even though you just went grocery shopping and have a ton of recipes in your roster, it feels impossible to put a meal together. If you’re like me, you might just end up tossing a frozen pizza in the oven and eating it on the couch while watching a show you’ve already seen 1000 times – because you can’t even choose something new to watch.
When we’re exhausted, even the smallest things can set us off. We also tend to make decisions that don’t completely align with our values or goals because we’re just desperate to move on. A fully rested human is more likely to make good choices about nutrition, movement, or finances than someone who is burnt out.
If you often procrastinate on home projects, make impulsive decisions you later regret, or abandon projects before you get close to finishing them, you might be dealing with decision fatigue at home. If this is how you’re feeling right now, I want you to know that you are not a bad person for falling into any of these traps. Life is hard. Let’s not make it harder.
Designing a home can be draining
There’s a reason why it was important for me to become trauma-informed. Home is an incredibly vulnerable and intimate topic for most people, and I wanted to be sure that I could safely help people navigate the design process.
We all have so many emotions and memories connected to home. Some are positive, but others bring up trauma, sadness, loneliness, and feelings of abandonment. It’s why I focus on self-discovery and safety in my process: because I know that picking a paint colour is never about just picking a paint colour.
It’s already tough to start a big project. Let alone a project that involves thousands of micro-decisions that directly impact your lifestyle, finances, and sense of self-worth. Now take that massive undertaking and layer on all of your memories, emotions, trauma, and expectations you’ve set for yourself. It’s a big ask.
The process of designing a home can be inspiring, energizing, and confidence-boosting. Yes, it can be hard. But if we can embrace all of the parts that make us human – and honour our unique boundaries – we can take some of the decision fatigue, burnout, and potential conflicts out of the design process.
Designers want to relieve your stress
As designers, it’s our role to understand your vision, goals, lifestyle, and aesthetic preferences and pull them all together into a cohesive story.
A good designer brings more than just expertise, skill, and industry knowledge to a project. We also bring emotional intelligence, fantastic communication skills, conflict management, project management, and a whole lot of compassion and patience.
My holistic approach leans heavily on self-discovery because I want to get to know you really well before we talk about aesthetics. This helps me develop an awareness of your stressors, decision-making capacity, key relationship dynamics, and, if you feel comfortable, any potential triggers we might have to navigate during the process.
When we work together, I do my absolute best to build a foundation of trust right from the start. This trust allows us to co-create a vision for your home and guides every phase of the project. It lets me know how far I can stretch your comfort zone, which decisions you want to be fully involved in, and which you’d prefer I make on my own. If you want to be as hands-off as possible, or you love a surprise, I can adjust my communications because I have a solid understanding of your wants, needs, goals, and desires.
At the end of the day, I want people to walk into their newly designed home and feel a sense of deep relief, peace, and satisfaction. If you look around and love the end result, but also equate the process with stress or emotional exhaustion, then I haven’t done my job.
Tips to Combat Decision Fatigue on Your Own
Having the skilled guidance of a designer can take a huge weight off your shoulders. But if paying for design support isn’t accessible to you right now, I have a few ideas to help you create a beautiful and supportive home on your own.
As an easy first step, I’ve created a free guidebook that walks you through my entire process. Secrets to a Soulful Home is available when you sign up for my email newsletter – and you can unsubscribe at any time, no hard feelings or judgment from me! As I mentioned above, my process leans heavily on self-discovery, so I’ve included a ton of journal prompts and exercises you can explore at your own pace.
Once you’ve clarified your wants, desires, values, personal preferences, and even a layout (there is space in the guidebook to draw a floor plan!), you can move on to the other decisions. This is where decision fatigue can creep in because you’ll probably be looking at paint, furnishing, and accessory options to bring your design to life. Try to set some boundaries with yourself, like sourcing one item at a time (rug today, sofa tomorrow, TV stand next week), or holding off on purchases until you’ve assessed your home and ‘shopped’ your existing items.
It also might be helpful to start each design work session by doing a body scan, meditation, or tapping exercise. This way, you’re starting all of your hard work from a grounded, peaceful state of mind, which will increase your capacity for making decisions.
Bringing It All Together
If you’re feeling overwhelmed about designing your home, please know that you’re not alone. Even designers experience decision fatigue and overwhelm during the process. What matters most is how you treat yourself when you hit your limit.
Your home should support your life, not drain your life force. If the process of designing your home is making you dread leaving work each day, or you feel resentful that you’re painting when the weather is beautiful, take a break.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: it’s not that serious!
Home has the power to be transformational. But if the process is burning you out, that’s your cue to pause, regroup, and prioritize self-care for the remainder of the project.
If you’re curious about how to explore your values so you can create a home full of soul, I’m giving away my entire design process for free (yes, free!) through my newsletter. My guidebook, Secrets to a Soulful Home, takes you through exercises, prompts, and templates to help you design a space that’s rooted in your truth.
I hope it helps you discover your truest and most beautiful self.
Need support transforming your home into your personal sanctuary?
My virtual holistic design packages are here to help. We will work together and consider style, function, and lifestyle to ensure the end result is not only beautiful, but also supports your mental, physical, and emotional wellness.
