There's a specific kind of exhaustion that doesn't come from doing too much.
It comes from deciding the same thing over and over again.
Same tracks. Same versions. Same questions. Each session starts with the quiet sense that progress should be possible - and ends with the realization that nothing actually moved.
Not because the work changed. Because the decision never closed.
Re-decision feels productive, but isn't
Revisiting a choice can feel like diligence.
You listen again. You compare again. You check whether your taste shifted. You tell yourself you're being careful.
But most re-decisions don't add new information. They just replay old uncertainty under slightly different conditions.
The mind mistakes repetition for rigor.
Why unresolved decisions reopen themselves
A decision that isn't explicitly marked as finished remains porous.
It can be reopened by:
- A new version
- A comment from someone else
- A change in mood
- A few days of distance
Without a clear boundary, the decision has no defense. Any new input is enough to destabilize it.
So the work loops back to the same fork in the road.
Time doesn't resolve ambiguity
Creators often assume that stepping away will clarify things.
Sometimes it does. Often it doesn't.
Distance helps you forget noise, but it also erodes context. When you return, you're missing the reasoning that led you to your last tentative conclusion. So you start over.
The decision feels fresh, but only because its history was lost.
Taste evolution is a trap
Taste changes. That's normal.
The problem is letting evolving taste retroactively invalidate every prior decision.
If every shift in preference forces a full reevaluation, nothing ever stabilizes. The work becomes permanently provisional.
Mature systems allow taste to evolve between decisions, not endlessly reopen them.
Decision markers create boundaries
A decision marker is simple: a visible moment where a choice is declared closed.
Without it, the system has no memory. Every new input resets the question.
With it, the work can move forward while feedback continues. That's the difference between iteration and re-litigation.