Sometimes decision-making is fun and energizing. Other times really tiring. Why is there that much variance?
For example — I find backpacking/hiking is a fun, energizing form of problem solving that requires many decisions: Where to step, which rock to use, what clothing to use, where to pitch the tent, how to make and tend the fire…
But a modern “email job” can be mentally tiring, creating lots of decision fatigue: Who to email/DM, how to craft that message, how to write that formula, what to work on next… Sometimes at the end fo the day, I’ve made so many micro-decisions that I don’t want to make any more non-work decisions, no matter how small.
Humans seem to be wired for problem-solving decisions. So what gives?
I think it’s time-to-feedback. In modern hiking — like in old-timey hunting, gathering, or migrating — the feedback loop is short. There’s little time between making a decision and learning from it. Whereas at an email job, you make decisions where it will be a long time before any result is clear (if you can even draw that line of causation), or where someone else entirely sees the results.