How Many Choices Do We Have?
For the overthinkers: because it feels like we’re always faced with endless possibilities
I fall under the trap of overthinking a lot of times. This causes me anxiety and depression.
As a professional strategist, thinking IS part of the job. You have to measure the risks and consequences of what you’re doing. Every decision has a corresponding output.
Whenever we’re faced with important decisions in life, or even just the most basic ones like “What should I eat today?” is a challenge. Why? Because we now live in an era where we’re told there are “endless possibilities.” When picking out a shoe, there are a million options to choose from in the market. That’s why articles like the “Best This & That” makes so much sense because people do not have the time to investigate every product just so they can make a purchase decision.
But the availability of these options hurt us. In Barry Schwartz’ book “The Paradox of Choice,” he talks about the psychological effects of having this wide array of options available at our disposal. Not only do these options make us unhappy, but it also exhausts our brain.
“As the number of options increases, the costs, in time and effort, of gathering the information needed to make a good choice also increase,” writes Schwartz. “The level of certainty people have about their choice decreases. And the anticipation that they will regret their choice increases.”
In the long run, it limits us.
So How Do We Fix This?
We help ourselves by actually limiting our choices.
Instead of thinking about the 10 styles of shoes you want to buy this fall, you can pinpoint the top three ones that make your heart skip a beat. Then, from those three, just choose the one that’s the most versatile of them all. Though I know the ideal scenario would be to just buy all three, but if you’re in a position where you’re choosing the best pair, that means you’ve only allotted a budget for one.
This applies to all aspects of life. From the biggest, most pivotal decisions of our lives, to the smallest ones.
What do I eat this morning? What do I wear?
That’s why the minimalist movement has been so popular nowadays; it just makes everyone’s lives so simple.
Realistically, you could spend your entire life looking for the perfect investment… Sure, there might be a better way to invest, but doing nothing isn’t one of them. So what’s wrong with just calling it good enough and moving on?
I’m still trying to pin this down myself, but the fewer choices we give ourselves, the better our perspectives will be. Because ultimately, we can’t control the outcome. The best thing we could do is prepare as intensely as we can.
What’s worse is, if we let ourselves just dawdle in the “evaluation process” of picking that “perfect” (which will always be impossible) choice, we will eventually end up not choosing anything. Not doing anything.
We’re just there, endlessly thinking about the possibilities. Stuck.
On the other hand, cut it down to two options “A” and “B,” we’re left with a simple question of “Which choice will I not regret choosing at the end of my life?”
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