🧠 Decision Fatigue Is Real

Judges grant parole 65% of the time in the morning. By afternoon? Nearly 0%. It's not bias — it's biology. Your brain runs out of decision-making fuel, and the consequences are bigger than you think.

Researchers analyzed 1,112 parole decisions made by Israeli judges over ten months. The pattern was striking: judges granted parole about 65% of the time right after their morning break. As the hours passed, that number dropped steadily — reaching nearly zero just before the next break. After eating, it shot back up to 65%. The same cycle repeated throughout the day. The prisoners' cases hadn't changed. The judges' mental energy had.

The implication for your life is clear: schedule important decisions for morning, or right after a meal. Save emails, admin tasks, and routine choices for the afternoon when your brain is already tired. And if you must make a big decision when depleted, either delay it or create a default that forces action — because your exhausted brain will choose whatever requires the least effort.

This explains a quirk of highly successful people. Obama wore the same color suit every day. Zuckerberg wears the same gray t-shirt. It's not a fashion statement — it's energy management. Every trivial decision you eliminate saves fuel for the ones that matter.