Decision fatigue and why your evening self can't read the room
Your capacity for high-quality decisions is finite, and clinical leadership burns through it faster than almost any other role. Here's what to do about it.
By the time most healthcare leaders sit down to have a difficult conversation with a team member at the end of the day, they have already made between 200 and 400 meaningful decisions. Their capacity for nuance is depleted. Their patience is thinner than they realise. They are not, in any meaningful sense, the same person who walked into the building that morning.
This is not a character flaw. It is biology. Decision-making is metabolically expensive, and clinical leadership burns through that budget faster than almost any other role. Recognising this is the beginning of leading sustainably.
The practical implication is simple but rarely applied: do not schedule your most consequential conversations, decisions or strategic thinking for the back end of your day. Protect a window early. Treat your morning capacity as the scarce, valuable resource it is.
About the author
Katy Draper is a Registered Nurse, ICF ACC credentialed coach and burnout specialist with 40+ years inside UK healthcare. She works 1:1 with senior clinicians and healthcare leaders.