Technology is advancing rapidly, and we are now presented with more options at a rapid pace. The more options we encounter, the more complex our choice-making can become. There are fascinating case studies on the psychology and paradox of choice and how our satisfaction levels are diluted when presented with more options. There are some fascinating practical day-to-day reasons why fewer options may be better. Would we have added that new thing to our list if we had not scrolled through our phones and seen something new that otherwise would not have crossed our path? Word of mouth existed before social media, television, and advertising. If it worked for your neighbor and they found value in the item, they would share the information. Our circles have grown substantially in the past decade through handheld devices, and more information is being presented. In past generations, humans were exposed to new ideas and products on a lesser scale, lessening our choices. Having some options gives us a sense of freedom; having too many, we feel bound and unable to decide, causing anxiety and distress. Having fewer options would inadvertently minimize our wants and maximize our satisfaction with what we already have.
Fine-dining restaurants and high-end clothing stores tend to present customers with fewer choices. Why? People are more likely to follow through with a decision when given fewer options. Dr. Vishton offers the counterintuitive tip that you should, whenever possible, reduce the number of options you have to a relatively small number. Across various studies, human decision-making functions more optimally when the choices are limited. When given many options, people experience choice overload: the tendency to get overwhelmed when presented with many options. When presented with too many options, we experience decision fatigue. The four elements of decision fatigue are procrastination, impulsivity, and avoidance. Having fewer options helps us make fewer decisions. Therefore, we can function at a higher frequency, feel lighter, and feel more at ease physically and emotionally. Derek Sivers takes a deeper look at the psychology of choices, which is written in Paradox of Choice. It is an excellent read if you want more information. We have heard it before, from the most outstanding innovators to the CEOs – they wear the same thing daily. They know what they are comfortable in and wear it repeatedly. Their time is spent creating; we can learn from this practice. How do we want to spend our time? Using brainpower for decisions like what to wear and eat in the morning means you could be out of energy later in the day to make more meaningful choices.
Social media came in like wildfire and spread quicker than we could control it. Have we asked ourselves what it is offering us as humans? To sum it up, more choices all around. Let’s quickly list the options on social media: fashion, music, workouts, nutrition, body types, dating, home décor, vacation ideas, politics, etc. It is just overload, advertising at its finest. If we consume less advertising or limit it, social media becomes irrelevant. We may soon discover social media is less social than we think and instead a giant billboard selling us the next best thing or idea. Giving us a problem we never had and the solution we never asked for. The less we consume the advertising bait, the more satisfied we are. Food and fitness are great places to start when focusing on a healthier lifestyle. If we put our blinders on at the grocery store and stick to our list containing primarily whole nutrition-dense foods, we would automatically be presented with fewer options. The same goes for fitness; if we block out all the noise and the latest and greatest fitness workout fad, we can optimize our time. We are often bombarded with the newest workout trends, feeling defeated and quitting before we even start. Keeping it as simple as possible, using the tried-and-true workouts, equals more time to spend on active lifestyles.
The ability to weigh choices is remarkably advantageous but can also have drawbacks. The drawbacks can be so naturally woven into our lives that we barely see them. Hopefully, this sparks a thought as to what area we could reduce options in our daily lives; having an abundance of possibilities requires more effort to decide and leaves us unsatisfied with our choices. By limiting our options, we can maximize our time and focus, making choices that lead us to a more intentional, purpose-driven day. “Learning to choose is hard. Learning to choose well is harder. And learning to choose well in a world with unlimited possibilities is harder still, and perhaps too hard.” -Barry Schwartz