Yes, no, no, yes. All day you are faced with making decision after decision. But how do you avoid making a terrible decision? What is likely is that you don’t have, necessarily, a problem with making good or even decent decisions during the day. The problem comes when you are done with your day of work and you come home. The problem is called, decision fatigue.
Decision fatigue is that common feeling we all have after a long day of making decisions. After a while we get tired of decisions. “What do you want for dinner?” your spouse asks you. “I don’t care, can you just pick?” you respond. Sound familiar? Well, there’s a reason for that. You’re tired, physically and emotionally, and you’re not fit for making a good decision.
Esau, Stew, Exhaustion, and a Bad Decision
This has been going on ever since mankind has existed. In fact, you can see this at work between two twin brothers, Esau and Jacob. Here’s what happened:
29 One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from the wilderness exhausted and hungry. 30 Esau said to Jacob, “I’m starved! Give me some of that red stew!” (This is how Esau got his other name, Edom, which means “red.”)
31 “All right,” Jacob replied, “but trade me your rights as the firstborn son.”
32 “Look, I’m dying of starvation!” said Esau. “What good is my birthright to me now?”
33 But Jacob said, “First you must swear that your birthright is mine.” So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his brother, Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate the meal, then got up and left. He showed contempt for his rights as the firstborn. Genesis 25:29-34 (NLT)
Esau, the older brother, was exhausted and hungry. He just wanted some food. In that moment, he was tired of making decisions, he was just hungry and anything seemed reasonable in order to get him what he wanted. Esau may have been suffering from decision fatigue and it clearly had its effect on him.
Esau gave Jacob his birthright. To be the oldest brother was a big deal in Jewish culture. You get the majority of the inheritance and you carry on the family name. It would be like: you come home from a long day of work, you still live at home as you are 17 years old. Your brother/sister is cooking some food and you ask them for some. They propose that the only way they will give you some food is if you forfeit your trust fund (your parents are loaded, congratulations) and you agree because you are SO hungry. Crazy, right?
Esau gave up a lot for some stew. As a result of his decision, we refer to the God of the Bible as, “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob…” (Acts 3:13). Did you notice that? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and JACOB! Esau’s name should be there, but it’s Jacob’s name instead. Esau gave up his birthright. He gave up his place in God’s story. We don’t hear a whole lot more about Esau, especially compared to Jacob.
So, what’s the secret to not making a terrible decision?
Don’t make major decisions when you’re emotionally and physically tired. Know when you are at your best and make your biggest decisions then. You probably intuitively knew this, but its something that we shouldn’t let get the best of us.
Remember, the stew isn’t as good as you think it is. Think before you act. Think before you open your mouth. Don’t be stupid, THINK. Make decisions when you are at your best each day. Otherwise, a Jacob in your life will manipulate you and you won’t really care until it’s too late.
Have you ever made a bad decision when you were tired? Tell us about it in the comments below. Or maybe you can tell us about a “friend” who made a bad decision when they were tired. 😉
