Every year there is a period of time that I feel like I am spending more time outside shoveling snow than doing anything else in my life. That is life in Chicago during the winter. Snow is everywhere and I am exhausted.
Recently I have been hearing about the idea of ego depletion. A way of describing what that means is that we only have enough energy for a finite amount of things that require a decision, or mental effort. I don’t know a whole lot, but I definitely feel that it stands to reason that it has merit. I’ve felt the effects.
I missed two days of writing so far this month. One for illness and the second felt very much like a result of the above theory. Weird. But it’s almost worse when I don’t write. When I let my lack of energy dictate that I won’t even open up the computer or a notebook to at least write a few words down.
I am hoping that as I research the idea above, there are some ideas on how to increase that pool of decision making energy, or how to better conserve it throughout the day. We’ll see. I’d love there to be an answer. Even if it takes work.
Jeremy C Kester 
2 responses to “The Burden of Not Writing”
I believe another term for what you are describing is called decision fatigue. There are a lot of studies on it (companies use it to sell us their most expensive products at the end of the day). From what I’ve read, one of the best ways to overcome it, is to make a thing a habit. Once it’s a habit you no longer have to make the decision. It’s already been made. Though I certainly know that that’s easier said than done!
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Yep. You are right. I completely missed that when I was looking for it, late, bleary-eyed… proof to the very concept I was looking into.
I’ve been reading up on creating good habits too. Makes sense that the two concepts are intertwined. Thanks!
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