24 August 2009
Successful Intentions Newsletter
Hi ,
Finding it hard to choose?
Making decisions is not as easy as it looks. What do you do when there are 29 flavours of ice cream , 83 brands of toothpaste, 253 breakfast cereals, and unlimited customised options to choose from?
Every choice involves a trade-off, or foregoing a choice that might have turned out better. And the difficulties increase as the number of attractive options increase. Choice is good, but there's a point at which too much choice is just overwhelming!
Barry Schwartz - Professor of Social Theory and Social Action at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania - and his colleagues have discovered there are two kinds of people when it comes to making choices. Maximizers (those who always try to make the the best possible choice), and Satisficers (those who make choices that are "good enough").
Which one are you? Here's a little questionnaire to find out: Rate the statements below on a scale from 1 to 7 (1 = "completely disagree", and 7 = "completely agree").
| 1. Whenever I'm faced with a choice, I try to imagine what all the other possibilities are, even ones that aren't present at the moment. |
| 2. No matter how satisfied I am with my job, it's only right for me to be on the lookout for better opportunities. |
| 3. When I am in the car listening to the radio, I often check other stations to see if something better is playing, even if I am relatively satisfied with what I'm listening to. |
| 4. When I watch TV, I channel surf, often scanning through the available options even while attempting to watch one program. |
| 5. I treat relationships like clothing: I expect to try a lot on before finding the perfect fit. |
| 6. I often find it difficult to shop for a gift for a friend. |
| 7. Renting videos is really difficult. I'm always struggling to pick the best one. |
| 8. When shopping, I have a hard time finding clothing that I really love. |
| 9. I'm a big fan of lists that attempt to rank things (the best movies, the best singers, the best athletes, the best novels, etc.). |
| 10. I find that writing is difficult, even if it's just writing a letter to a friend, because it's so hard to word things just right. I often do several drafts of even simple things. |
|
| 11. No matter what I do, I have the highest standards for myself. |
| 12. I never settle for second best. |
| 13. I often fantasize about living in ways that are quite different from my actual life. |
Generally, if your average rating is higher than 4 you're a Maximizer. Schwartz and his colleagues looked at averages from thousands of subjects and found that about a third scored higher than 4.75 and a third lower than 3.25. Roughly 10% of subjects were extreme Maximizers (averaging greater than 5.5), and 10% were extreme Satsificers (averaging lower than 2.5).
Maximizers make better objective choices but get less satisfaction from them. They strive to check out every option, and even after making a selection they're nagged by the alternatives they didn't have time to investigate. They are more prone to experience regret after a purchase, and if the purchase turns out to be disappointing, their sense of well-being takes longer to recover.
On the other hand, when Satsficers find an item that meets their standards, they stop looking. They spend less time comparing their purchasing decisions with others. And they don't tend to brood or ruminate about their choices.
Here's some good advice to follow in making choices:
- Choose when to choose: You can decide to restrict your options when the decision isn't critical. For example, make a rule to visit no more than two stores when shopping for clothing!
- Learn to accept "good enough": Settle for a choice that meets your core requirements rather than searching for the elusive "best". Then stop thinking about it.
- Don't worry about what you're missing: Consciously limit how much you ponder the seemingly attractive features of options you reject. Teach yourself to focus on the positive parts of the selection you make.
- Control expectations: "Don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed" is a cliché. But that advice is sensible if you want to be more satisfied with life.
Get more information about making wise choices here.
And go to my "Wisdom Circle" blog for musings, research, and applications of practical wisdom!
Keep your intentions clear,
Peter Webb
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