Making better decisions, maintaining willpower, and increasing productivity.

Everyone should read this article from the New York Times. You can apply the lessons and insights to many aspects of your life, such as the following:

Decision-making is a limited resources. You can get tapped out, so allocate it wisely.

• Do not make many decisions in a day. You think you are getting through them, but you're probably getting sloppy or just accepting the default. If possible, schedule only half a day on making decisions. 
• If you are making important decisions and purchases, do it early in your day.
• Make large decisions first, then move on to the details. You don't want to be fatigued by the time you need to make the best decisions.
• When making a complicated purchase, select the most important and expensive options first (even if it's declining them), before you start thinking about color and other trivial styling. 

Willpower is a limited resource. You cannot attempt to resist all temptations. 

• Since you can't resist all temptations that come your way, it's best to not be tempted in the first place. You know your weaknesses, so avoid places, situations or people that trigger the struggle. 
• This has implications for keeping diets. For example, if you have a weakness for bacon (or whatever kryptonite snack you can't resist), don't have it in your fridge at all.   
• This also has an implications for work email is a weakness, shut down your mail client and check email at fixed intervals only. If it's Facebook or the internet, have a zero tolerance policy at work. Just don't check it during work hours. Period. 
• If you falter on one area of temptation, fortify yourself through another area. For example, exercise might be a more viable weight loss solution than diets for some people, like, say "Daryl." Daryl loves food, and he works in an environment that surrounds him with food.  He can resist once, twice, but not all day when those Delilahs disguised as chocolate Poki sticks calls him out by name. "Eat me, Daryl, eat me!"So a better alternative is to exercise or engage in something very active. At the end of the day,  his active lifestyle might burn the calories he couldn't resist. (A note of warning: Many Americans overestimate the amount of calories burned in their workout and underestimate the calories they ingest... leading to the ironic effect of gaining weight even as they exercise.)

Timing is everything.

• Now that you know decision-making is a limited resource, time meetings and requests accordingly. Don't ask for a promotion, a raise, or a resource when the person who can grant these  are likely to be decision fatigued. Denying your request requires less thought and is the safer option, so person is likely to reject you. On the other hand, if you are presenting a proposal that preserves the status quo, perhaps it's best to present it at a time when the decision-maker is most fatigued and most likely to accept the default. 
• A salesperson (or someone who just wants to negotiate for something) can wear you out with many tiny decisions before presenting the more profitable or advantageous (to the salesperson or negotiator) options. By then, you are so fatigued, that you are more likely to acquiesce and accept the default options, even if they're not the best for you. Be aware that this tactic is being employed on you! If there's no rush, slow down the process. Walk away from pressure tactics to decide now. 

Sugar can reset your willpower and decision-making.

• Glucose can fortify your willpower and help you make better decision.
• The irony of this is, if you are on a diet, you can't have sugar, which helps you gain the willpower to resist sugar....