Today it seems that the number of choices is getting way too high. There’s too much noise, too much clutter and too many things vying for our attention. At a certain point, too many options suffocate us and we end up making no choice at all.

Actually, being presented with too many options stresses our brain. There are too many things to compare & contrast. We just don’t have the time to research every one of them. We are then unable to make a choice, fearing that we will make the wrong one.

Barry Schwartz, author of “The Paradox of Choice” explains that because humans are wired to adapt, you won’t be happy with what you have forever, meaning you will always be tweaking & changing things. Schwartz has divided people into two groups: satisficers & maximisers.

A satisficer is someone who chooses products or services that are “good enough”, while a maximiser is someone who is always trying to get the very best product.

Interestingly, the satisficer is usually happy with their choice, while the maximiser is seldom happy, often regretting their purchase.

Here’s a video of Barry Schwartz explaining his strategy:

How to make better choices

So how can a particular choice stand out? Certainly a winning choice must be better than average. But how can we best determine which choices are better? Perhaps we should figure out how to limit our choices in the first place.

Schwartz explains that making good decisions usually involves the following steps:

What’s your goal? The process of goal-setting and therefore good decision making begins with the question: “What do I want?”

How important is reaching your goal? All goals aren’t equally important and therefore don’t deserve equal time or effort to accomplish.

What are your options? Does an option meet an immediate goal, is it part of a larger goal, or is it merely a distraction?

How likely will an option help meet your goals? How likely will I follow through with a particular choice once I’ve chosen it?

Make a choice!

Modify goals. At some point, review the consequences of your choice and modify your goals, the importance assigned to them, and the way future possibilities are evaluated.

If the decision isn’t a huge one in terms of cost or consequence, just pick the first that seems reasonable.

For more important choices, develop more specific criteria of what you want or need. Once you have narrowed the specifics, you’re better prepared to make a decision you can live with. Then, take action, review the outcome as compared to your desired result, refine your specific criteria, make another choice and take another action. Rinse, and repeat this process toward your bigger goals in life.

Sometimes we have to eliminate the tiny choices we make in our life! Too many choices each day makes each one diluted and less effective. Focus on the choices that are most important to your life goals.