Here’s a video by Barry Schwartz, the author of “The Paradox of Choice.” Having more choices seems to be a recipe for doing less and being less happy (exactly the opposite of what we all want). I want to work this material into the book somehow, but am not quite sure how to do it.
- Where in your life do you find more choices are good?
- Where would life be easier if you had less choice?
5 responses so far ↓
1 Kathryn Hall // May 9, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Where’s the POLL??
2 Stever // May 9, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Sorry - not a formal poll. Just asking for free-form comments in response to the questions.
3 yvonne // May 10, 2008 at 12:58 am
Life is almost always *easier* with fewer choices but it’s not always better or more fun. Easier usually means quicker and when you’re talking about time management or sticking to a system, not having to think about it is what you want. However, if I have to pick between ice cream flavors, fewer choices is certainly easier but since that’s more of a recreational activity I’m happy to take my time debating the selection.
So times where productivity doesn’t matter such as recreational, hobby (mmm catalogs with lots of widgets), and happy me time is good for more choices. Also, when your limited choices are not very good you start wishing you had some more options; like deciding between invasive surgery or gamma knife radiation for that brain tumor. But when time and productivity are essential (work, shopping at the supermarket, filling out tax forms) fewer choices and simplicity win.
By the way, for more fun info on choices, read Dan Ariely’s “Predictably Irrational”. His first chapter talks about how we make irrational decisions based on relativity. One example he used was if you were trying to pick whether to vacation in Rome or Paris. The travel packages were identical for hotel, airfare, free breakfast, etc. and you were just trying to decide which great city to go to when the travel agent tells you of another Rome offer that’s almost identical except it’s missing one component, say the free breakfast. Now that you have something to compare against, the original Rome package will appear more compelling even though no attributes have changed between the two packages you were trying to decide against. You go to Rome based on irrelevant data.
4 Rob Kendrick // May 13, 2008 at 11:31 am
What Yvonne says makes sense: when there’s fun involved, choices are a good thing. However, in periods of high stress, multiple choices can be daunting.
In general, though, one thing is certain: choices complicate things. When there are too many choices in a not-so-fun scenario, nothing helps more than a good ol’ pad & pen.
Pros & cons lists are good for difficult choices where there is no clear winner. Choice A is great because it works, but puts us way over budget. Choice B is great because it’s within budget, but is not as user-friendly.
Evaluate all choices fully, and then evaluate which points are most important to you. For instance, it’s been said that when dealing with IT security, you have a triangle of Secure, Cheap, and Usable. You can have any two of the three; secure & cheap, secure & usable, or cheap & usable. What’s important is to evaluate what sacrifices you’re willing to make in order to get what you need.
5 Rob Kendrick // May 13, 2008 at 11:33 am
Additional note: It’s also good to look at all your choices and first pick out anything which makes no sense, similar to how you’d work on a multiple-choice question on a test. Rule out the definite “No” choices, then work with what you have left.
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