How to reduce decision fatigue as a Property Manager

Article by Sinead Clarke Marketing Specialist 9 June 2023

We know that feeling at the end of the day when you finally close down your computer and leave the office. Your mind is racing, your eyes hurt, and you’re already worried about your to-do list for tomorrow. You head home and feel like you just can’t switch off for the evening, no matter how hard you try. This is a major symptom of decision fatigue. 

Decision fatigue is the state of mental overload that can impede your ability to continue making decisions. In short, it is the product of constantly flicking between tasks or making choices in a state of stress or anxiety. The main symptoms of decision fatigue include making impulsive choices, procrastinating due to feeling overwhelmed, and saying ‘no’ a lot. Due to the busy lives we lead, and the want to multi-task or constantly flick between tabs on our computer means that it’s likely we’ve all felt the symptoms of decision fatigue at one stage or another. 

With that being said, we’ve culminated a list of our top six tips to combat decision fatigue and leave the workday feeling ready to unwind and relax. However, before we dive in, we just wanted to say if you are struggling with your mental health surrounding work we implore you to speak to your manager or seek professional help. Alright, let’s get into it!

1. Automate your processes as much as possible

Did you know that on average employees spend 4.8 hours a week scheduling meetings? That’s an awfully long amount wasted on a task that could be automated. Furthermore, here at PropertyMe, we aim to automate as many of your processes as possible to allow you to have time and energy to make decisions relating to growing and improving your business. By freeing up space in your mind by automating your repetitive tasks it allows you to approach growth and optimisation practices with a clear and creative mind.
So how can you use PropertyMe to automate your repetitive tasks? By using our feature-rich platform, specifically our automation features you can save hours a week! Our favourite time-saving feature is Automation Studio As the name suggests, Automation Studio allows you to automate your workflow like magic! Check out our first automation, Arrears Automation. Simply select the day, trigger, and specific message you’d like to send and our automation engine will deliver these out according to the schedule you set.

2. Create your query dream team

Questions are vital to growth within the workplace, however, they can slow down your workflow and create gaps in your decision-making if they’re not addressed from the get-go. Often times when we’re unsure about something in our practices, we can become overwhelmed and confused about who to ask for help and often don’t want to ‘burden’ busy team members with our questions. This cycle, however, only contributes to decision fatigue as you’re making decisions without knowing all of the information, and without a clear-cut path on how to proceed. 

Therefore, it’s a great idea to have a list of your query dream team. These are the people you can reach out to when you’re stuck or unsure. Who is the tech-wizz in the office you can go to? Who is your mentor that you can go to with career progression questions? We recommend sectioning off some space in your diary to write down all of your contacts so that you can quickly flick through them when you hit a bump in the road.

3. Use the first 20 minutes of your day to get organised

It’s often said that starting the day off on an organised note is a recipe for productive success. This can be backed up by the fact that 92% of people who adopted a morning routine characterised themselves as more productive for the remainder of the day. We allow ourselves to have morning rituals before we head into the office, so why don’t we do the same for ourselves when we arrive? 

If you’ve always been in the habit of arriving to work in a flurry, frantically checking your emails and hoping to squeeze in time for a coffee, we can understand that it might be difficult to change that and carve out some time for yourself. However, we encourage you to be intentional about taking 15 minutes at the start of the day, to make a coffee, create a to-do list, set three intentions for the day, and clear out your emails. After this take three deep breaths and move through your day with renewed focus and clarity. If you wanted to take this a step further you could even carve out an additional five minutes at the end of each day to create your to-do list for the following day to ensure you don’t take the mental load of your work home with you.

4. Schedule decision-making time

Did you know checking your emails and making low-level decisions wastes 21 minutes per day? For those of us working an eight-hour day, that’s approximately 16% of our day. While it may not seem like a large amount of time, when scattered across your day the constant interruption of low-level decision-making and email checking can interrupt your thought process, resulting in a lack of concentration, and a longer amount of time spent trying to refocus. 

So how can you resolve this? It comes down to being strict with yourself and putting boundaries in place to ensure you’re not at the mercy of your calls and emails. You can do this by setting aside certain times of the day to check your emails, get back to people, and engage in low-level decision-making. For example, this could look like, checking your messages when arriving at work, again at 10 am, just before lunch, after lunch, at 3 pm, and once more before work. By scheduling these six set times, you’re allowing yourself to focus on the task at hand and reduce interruptions.

5. Take regular breaks

While you may be reading the heading and rolling your eyes, we’re well aware that taking regular breaks is much easier said than done. With that being said, it truly does make all of the difference for your energy levels and decision-making skills. In a study done by Michigan State University it was found that employees who took short, regular breaks saw increases in their productivity, job satisfaction, mental health and well-being, and were overall more engaged in their work. 

So, how can you translate this best practice into your busy life as a Property Manager? Well, beyond making it a priority to take your regular lunch break, we recommend also taking five minutes for every hour you work to get up, stretch, take a sip of water, and reset your eyes. Although, some days are busier than others, so when you’re stretched for time taking a single minute every once in a while to stretch out your neck, wiggle your toes, and simply divert your eyes from your screen can make all the difference!

6. Develop your team’s critical thinking skills

Developing your critical thinking skills as a team is imperative to ensure that not only is everyone individually learning how to reduce their own stress and fatigue levels but also to create a more efficient work environment. Thankfully, you don’t have to be a business owner or manager to develop your team’s critical thinking skills. 

We recommend speaking to your manager about ongoing training you can source for the team at large. Not only does this show that you take initiative if you’re looking to rise up the ranks in your current team, but it also provides you with career-growing skills. Critical thinking courses can be taken weekly online or as a once-off, in-person intensive and arm you with the tools to make decisions more effectively, reducing decision fatigue. 

So there you have it, our top six tips to reduce decision fatigue. Let us know your thoughts on our top reducing decision fatigue by emailing [email protected]