It’s 9:42 a.m. and you’ve already made at least 17 decisions — all before double-digit o’clock!

You weighed in on a staff discussion about how to handle a homesick camper, you figured out how to swap out the gluten-free rolls that never arrived in yesterday’s food order, you went back-and-forth over if it’s worth having kids change for second period swim with those kind of clouds on the horizon, and you quickly determined that, in fact, camp morale cannot survive another hour of “Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee” echoing across the grounds. (Also, for future reference, kiddos: nobody will be proud of you for bringing it home.)

By lunchtime, your brain is less “sharp strategic leader” and more “tired cruise director.” By dinner, you’re making choices like, “Sure, tie-dye at 8:00 p.m. in the dark sounds fine, why not?” Decision-making in camp leadership isn’t just frequent; it’s relentless. And while our campers might believe we have infinite energy and wisdom stored away somewhere, the truth is our decision-making fuel tank runs dry just like anyone else’s.

That’s where decision fatigue comes in — the sneaky, cumulative brain drain that turns otherwise thoughtful, mission-driven camp leaders into people who can’t decide what sandwich to order, let alone how to handle staff conflict or an outbreak of I-won’t-swim-itis.

Decision fatigue isn’t laziness, weakness, or poor leadership — it’s biology and psychology. Just like a muscle that gets shaky after too many push-ups, our brains get worn out after too many choices. At camp, the problem isn’t that we’re making decisions badly; it’s that we’re making so many of them before the rest of the world has even had a cup of coffee. From safety calls to snack substitutions and the classic, “Do I intervene in this incoming train wreck now or let them work it out?” camp leaders face a constant stream of choices that deplete our mental fuel. Understanding what decision fatigue is, how it shows up in a unique way in camp life, and how to limit it will help you level up your leadership skillset. 

What Decision Fatigue Is and How It Works

Decision fatigue is the deterioration of the quality of our decisions over time and the associated mental exhaustion that comes from constantly evaluating choices (Braithwaite, 2025). It is both a physiological (biological) phenomenon as well as an emotional and mental strain. A cognitively spacious brain demonstrates solid executive functioning and is:

• Present
• Efficient
• Patient
• Regulated
• Productive
• Able to access humility and grace (The Trauma Stewardship Institute, 2022)

However, a brain with depleted mental energy from decision fatigue tends to present:

• Divided attention
• More irritation and hostility
• A “glass half empty” viewpoint
• An inclination to experience everything more intensely
• An unwillingness to compromise (The Trauma Stewardship Institute, 2022)

One way to think about decision fatigue is to compare your brain to a machine (see Figure 1). You have a certain amount of “fuel” to run the engine, and fuel is used each time you make a decision. Stressful, more intense decisions eat up fuel faster than simple decisions. Ultimately, you start to make less than ideal decisions because you’re running on fumes.

Your decision fatigue also flows downstream and starts affecting others. Camps are ecosystems, so when the director or leadership staff start running on empty, everyone feels it. A short temper, a delayed call, or a “Let’s just wing it” moment ripples down to staff morale, camper safety, and the culture of the community. And nobody signed up for camp so that hangry director energy could set the tone.

Figure 1.

Recognizing the Signs

The tricky part about decision fatigue is that it rarely shows up with a name label (ironically making it fit in with most things at camp). It sneaks in like contraband candy, disguised as irritation, brain fog, or the sudden inability to choose between chicken nuggets, fingers, patties, wings, or tenders for the lunch menu. Here are some signs of decision fatigue to look out for:

• Cognitive signs. Brain fog, difficulty seeing implications, struggling to weigh options efficiently/effectively. (Emily looks around sheepishly while asking you to raise your hand if you’ve ever spent way too much time picking camp T-shirt colors)
• Behavioral signs. Snapping at staff, procrastinating on simple things, giving feedback aggressively/unhelpfully, defensive body language
• Health signs. Headaches, exhaustion, stress symptoms, anxiety, digestive issues
• Some additional signs that may indicate decision fatigue include:
• Declining decision quality. Either we are indecisive and avoid making decisions, or we become impulsive, taking risky shortcuts that can backfire.
• Reduced resilience. Our “bouncebackability” becomes limited, which impacts our ability to access and use coping skills.
• Diminished self-control. When the brain becomes tired from decision-making, it’s harder to resist temptations. Known as the willpower effect, it means that we’re easier prey to poor financial decision-making (such as impulse purchasing) and unhealthy actions (like binge eating or excessive substance use) in an attempt to regain energy.
• Susceptibility to decision bias and decisional conflict. Our brains experience and correct for biases frequently, but when the fuel tank is low, we may not realize just how clouded our judgment has become. Additionally, we’re more likely to both second-guess and regret the outcome of the choices we ultimately made.

Do We Need This on Top of Everything Else?

Now that we know what decision fatigue is and what it looks like, the next logical question is Why does it seem like camp leaders are especially doomed? The short answer: because camp is like a 24/7 decision obstacle course. This is the camp leadership paradox — we seek out opportunities to build our leadership skills, and the more developed they become, the more decisions land on our shoulders, draining our brains quicker than an old phone battery.

And, unlike in corporate settings where leaders’ choices are separated in distance and time from their consequences, camp decisions are layered with immediate considerations for the emotional, mental, and physical well-being of hundreds of people. At camp, you can’t push a deadline to tomorrow, reschedule a meeting for next week, or politely close your office door. It’s not about some fourth-quarter earnings report that might trouble your shareholders.

At camp, the thunderclouds are rolling in right now, the parent is calling right now, and the staff member is at your elbow right now. When you’re deciding whether to reschedule fourth period archery, you’re actually balancing weather radar, safety protocols, staff members’ time-off needs, facility utilization across multiple areas, and the emotional reactivity of 87 campers (give or take a few) who will spontaneously combust if their team can’t earn Olympics points for hitting the bullseye during this block.

So, camp leaders are prime targets for decision fatigue because we have:

• Too many choices. A daily triage of activities, staff conflicts, weather calls, camper needs, facility issues, etc.
• Warp-speed work. Everything feels like it needs to be done now, because there’s a ticking time clock before the pickup line or bedtime bugle.
• All eyes on us. Staff expect an answer, campers expect attention, the fire chief expects inspections, and parents expect perfection.
• Frequent value conflicts. Discipline vs. compassion, budget vs. the camper experience, policy/procedure vs. staff ratio, sleep vs. the never-ending to-do list.

Reduction Strategies

It’s not possible to avoid making decisions at work. However, you can set yourself up to be a leader who makes better decisions with less mental drain. The trick isn’t superhuman willpower; it’s structuring your camp world so that the biggest choices get the best of your brain, and the smaller ones don’t even make it onto your plate. The goal is to save your brainpower for the things that matter — like deciding whether to let the campers eat s’mores for breakfast (hint: no). Try these 10 things to protect your headspace:

• Batch it like laundry. Bunch your tasks and decisions into themed times, such as scheduling on Tuesday mornings or menu planning on Wednesday afternoons. This helps reduce what is known as task-switching mental load: when you jump back and forth, you’re likely to end up re-addressing the initial steps of the same decision multiple times.
• Create standard operating procedures (SOPs). These checklists/flowcharts/reference guides detail how to handle common issues, so you are not asked over and over again, and you also don’t have to re-decide each time.
• Avoid back-to-back meetings. Back-to-back meetings don’t allow for recovery between important decisions. When they’re unavoidable, schedule them in different locations with a few moments of travel distance in between.
• Simplify low-stakes decisions. Having a go-to outfit you know is comfy or setting a timer for an online purchase (instead of comparing the pros and cons of 50 different $10 playground balls) allows you to reserve energy for more significant choices.
• Make the big calls early. Address high-impact or complex decisions (such as hiring/firing, legal complications, future impacts, and significant alterations) early in the day when mental energy is higher.
• Take breaks/use mindfulness. Power nap, do a simple meditation, try some chair yoga, or hide in the arts and crafts closet for three minutes of silence. Taking breaks isn’t lazy; it’s good leadership practice, because it helps you restore mental energy quickly.
• Delegate without guilt. Let your leadership team flex their muscles. Bonus points for delegating decisions you are known to be a wee bit too emotional about.
• Use a sounding board. For big decisions, have a go-to list of people (including folks outside the camp bubble) with whom you can bounce ideas around, map situations, check in with reality, and confide concerns.
• Protect your focus. Ironically, choosing how to focus your attention at any given time is also a decision that can create additional decision fatigue. Create “do not disturb” time blocks and turn off notifications while you accomplish a few specific things. If that sounds impossible, consider asking one staff member to be a buffer for you for an hour. After coaching them on what essential interruptions look like, let them sit outside the office and chat with folks, do paperwork, and babysit your walkie-talkie. They’ll come get you if you’re truly needed. Bonus: they’ll appreciate the sit-down break and your trust in them.
• Avoid people who nag. Surround yourself with supporters (not just flatterers) who also push you when you need a nudge. Avoid toxic people who nag, criticize, and don’t provide a solid solution-oriented counterbalance.

The Gold Standard: Decision Thresholds

Aside from the individual strategies just mentioned, one of the best camp-wide hacks I’ve found for protecting leaders from rapid brain drain is the use of decision thresholds. These are a specific type of SOP — preset guidelines that help staff determine when they have the authority to act on their own versus when an issue needs input or approval from leadership staff, perhaps due to its complexity, potential consequences, public-facing elements, or other factors.

Good decision thresholds offer a funnel-shaped function. For any given topic, very few things should get filtered down to the final decision-maker. At the widest top level, actions don’t need any further review, because they’re automatically green-lighted. As the funnel narrows through initial levels of leadership staff, it allows staff to act with guidance, using their judgment and keeping the director posted. At the narrow neck of the funnel are those decisions reserved for the director themselves. This structure keeps you from answering questions like, “Can we move gaga to the gym?” at the exact same time you’re deciding how to respond to a medical emergency. Refer to Figure 2 for an example of a decision threshold for activity management.

Figure 2.

When frontline and middle-management staff are able to make routine and/or moderate-impact decisions quickly, it saves leadership staff from constant interruptions and reduces the decision-making load for those who need to save their fuel for the big stuff. Decision thresholds also empower staff by fostering their autonomy, confidence, and response efficiency. See Figure 3 for a step-by-step how-to on creating these leadership must-haves.

Closing Campfire Thoughts

At the end of the day, decision fatigue isn’t about being bad at your job — it’s about being human. And if camps are about anything, they are about showing humanity: joy, resilience, growth, and yes, limits. Leaders need to guard their mental fuel supplies so they can model resilience. Protecting your decision-making energy is a big part of protecting camp itself, so you can operate at the top of your game for the people who need you most. As your leadership skills continue to develop and evolve, remember the true moral of this campfire story: save your decision-making power for the moments that matter, because nobody wants a grumpy, brain-drained director who decides at 11:00 p.m. that tomorrow morning’s polar bear plunge is now “mandatory fun.”

Emily Golinsky, MS, provides training, consulting, professional development, and advocacy for camps, schools, childcare programs, and youth-development organizations through her company Bright Moose LLC. Emily welcomes feedback and conversation at [email protected].

References

Braithwaite, L. (2025). Why do we make worse decisions at the end of the day? Decision fatigue explained. The Decision Lab. thedecisionlab.com/biases/decision-fatigue

The Trauma Stewardship Institute. (2022). Decision fatigue. traumastewardship.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Decision_fatigue.pdf