Decision fatigue: unable to decide what to wear while making life-and-death decisions at work?

As a young leader back at RSPCA WA, I was the sole decision-maker for our sheltered animals. Thousands of lives a year, each choice heavy with emotion, ethics, and stakeholders.

One case stands out; a black medium breed dog, rescued by inspectors in a state of neglect - emaciated, barely alive. We poured months of care into nursing it back to health. Animal attendants fed and cared for it daily. Vets stayed overnight when it was critical. The fundraising team used its heartbreaking images for appeals.

But as the dog healed physically, it revealed a darker truth. It became aggressive, unpredictable, biting carers, attacking other dogs. Turns out it had seemed friendly on admission due to a lack of energy for movement, not temperament.

The inspectors who’d saved this animal felt betrayed when euthanasia was recommended. The fundraising team had used the dog’s emaciated images for an appeal, and the marketing team knew social media would rip us apart. My team was emotionally invested.

And me? I was balancing a dizzying array of pressures:

• The emotional toll on staff

• Public safety concerns

• Reputational risks

• Wanting the public long term to believe that adopting was as safe as a breeder

• Limited foster carers able to manage complex cases

Each week, decisions like this came with no easy answers.

At home, my sister made a comment that I was terrible at decisions. Apparently, I was incapable of deciding what to eat, weekend plans, if the dog needed the vet. Nothing not immediately in front of me with very low stakes.

I hadn't even noticed that my big decisions at work had completely depleted my capacity to make little ones in real life. I made up the term 'decision fatigue' and only discovered years later that this is a real term.

What this taught me about leadership and decision fatigue:

1. Shared decision-making is a lifeline.

   No leader should carry every weight alone. Building teams that share responsibility helps spread the load, improves outcomes, and protects everyone’s wellbeing.

2. Be compassionate upwards as well.

   It's easy to demonise leaders who make decisions we don't like. Chances are, they put a lot of angst and worry into their choice, and are doing the best they can.

3. This is why mums leave leadership in higher numbers than others do.

   I wasn't a mum then and I still couldn't function in the 'life admin' side of my life; if I was running a real household at this stage, I'd have lost my mind!

I'm told (though have not fact checked) that Barrack Obama and Steve Jobs wore the same outfit almost daily in order to avoid adding to their decision load. I've recently started wearing my branded polo shirt every day to reduce daily choices as I try to make some huge personal decisions.

Anyone else find it impossible to choose shoes in the morning while being capable of making massive life changing choices at work?