I first heard about Barry Schwartz and his TED talk, The Paradox of Choice, from an acquaintance. I watched it that very evening, and as both a leader and a coach, I was surprised to recognize so many aspects of my experience.
Schwartz poses a simple yet unsettling question: why do more options often make you feel worse?
Too many choices, too little peace of mind
Your daily life is filled with decisions. Where shall you go on holiday? What shall you have for lunch? Which school or extracurricular activity should you choose for your child? Which film shall you watch this evening? Where should you work, where should you live, which task should you start with, and which solution should you choose for a problem?
Some decisions carry more weight than others, but they all share one thing: you must constantly choose.
The greater the perceived stakes, the more final the consequences seem and the more options you have, the harder it becomes to decide. And even once you have made a decision, you often do not feel satisfied. The question lingers in your mind: ’What if I had made another decision?’
The paradox of choice
Barry Schwartz calls this the paradox of choice: the more options available to you, the greater the likelihood that you will ultimately feel less satisfied.
An abundance of options does not liberate you. It paralyses you. It does not reassure you. It creates anxiety. It does not make you happier. It leaves you with doubt.
How then can you make sound decisions?
If you accept this, the question follows: how can you live in a balanced way and make good decisions in your life and at work?
Perhaps by letting go of the desire for the perfect decision.
Not the perfect, but the optimal
The solution is not to search relentlessly for the ’absolute best’ option; it is to aim for an optimal one.
This means making a decision based on:
- your current knowledge,
- the information available to you,
- your preferences,
- and your present life circumstances.
Not in hindsight, not by weighing every possible scenario, but here and now, based on what is available to you.
The liberating power of decisions
Yet striving for the optimal – rather than chasing perfection – dissolves the paralysing effect of decision-making and significantly reduces the stress that comes with it.
Perhaps the real gain is not making the ’best’ decision, but being able to decide and move forward.
