40 Decisions a Day

A recent study found that mothers make 40 decisions a day! That’s 280 per week. Well heck, I could have told you that. But it got me thinking about artists and entrepreneurs. We easily make a like number of decisions in a single day. Some are big and some are small, but all seem so important.

I’m quite sure I make 20 decisions a day just based on the e-mail in my inbox. Should I donate to another silent auction? Should I agree to a discount a buyer has requested? Should I say yes to a speaking gig that is far out of town?  Should I renew my domain names for another year? Should I agree to that guest post on a blog I’ve never heard of?

Then there are the decisions we make on behalf of our businesses. What price should we put on our new product? Should we take out an ad in that local magazine? Should we agree to partner with another artist on a joint venture? Should we pay for a booth at an event?

And that’s to say nothing of the decisions we make regarding the art itself. What color should we apply to the painting next? Which director should we choose for the new show? Should we add another verse to the song or leave it as is? Should we massage that troublesome story line or get rid of it?

Even the “simple” decisions are sometimes surprisingly hard. Naming a character in a book, for example, sounds easy but can take hours. If you give your characters the wrong names, they tend not to cooperate with you. I sometimes think there is no such thing as an easy decision when you are an artist.

So if you are an artist/entrepreneur and a mom, you are likely making over 100 decisions a day! So the next time you are beating yourself up for not getting enough done, cut yourself some slack. Even on a bad day, you’ve made 50 decisions! That’s more than a full day’s work.

No wonder we are all so exhausted.