I have one of the characteristics of a group of people Barry Schwartz describes in his book: if I start reading a book I have to finish it (with just a few exceptions). This means that when I go to buy a book I am undertaking a high-risk decision (since I may waste a lot of time by buying a book that sucks). This book’s thesis was right on the money, but I regretted slogging through ten chapters of poorly written supporting anecdotes. (Where Malcolm Gladwell writes ‘epiphany’ anecdotes based on the experience of interesting people (like police officers), Schwartz shares experience from his own middle-America existence: real snoozers.) So I’ll boil it down for you:
- Choose when to choose
- Experiment with non-reversible decisions (to see if they make you happier)
- Allow (embrace?) constraints to decision-making
- Only evaluate opportunity costs of the next-best alternative (rather than all the alternatives)
In the last five years I’ve gone from being a ‘maximizer’ to ’satisficer’ in a few areas: clothes shopping (I now often go home when I don’t find anything that appeals to me), vacationing (I know there are a zillion places in the world that I won’t ever visit, so I just think about what I’m likely to enjoy about the places I do visit). I find that I enjoy these things more than before. I also limit my choices when I’m out to eat by asking for a recommendation; and when you don’t speak the language it’s much more likely you’ll end up with something good.