Ruthless Elimination

When it comes to changing behavior.. we have to be ruthless about the things that we focus on. 

We actually have some good data on this. 

There was a study of a parole board judges.. few 100 of them.. about 1000 cases that they looked at in this particular research study.. 

the parole board judges would have criminals come out.. they would sit before the parole board.. they would vote on whether or not they would be released from prison.. or to have to go back in. 

what you would hope.. is that in order to get released from prison.. it should be based on the time they serve.. the type of crime.. good behavior.. all sorts of things built into the criminal justice system. 

In fact.. what they found the single biggest factor on.. whether or not someone was released on parole or whether they had to go back into prison was.. the time of day that they were seen. 

this is a map of the judges decisions throughout the day. 

You can see that in the beginning of the day.. it starts around 60% likelihood that our criminal would be released on parole.. 

as the morning goes on.. the judges get fatigued.. their willpower depletes and the odds of you getting a favorable hearing decreases.. 

dotted line is break.. the judge's decision making spikes right back up to where it was before.. 

then goes back down.. they take another break in the afternoon and then pretty soon just falls off the cliff and the day ends. 

 

decision fatigue or ego depletion - 

this idea is a psychological concept. 

point here is that the more decisions that we make over the course of the day.. the more your willpower and focus gets fatigued.