You love having lots of choices.
But having more choices isn’t always a good thing — ever see so many good options that you end up picking… nothing?
Barry Schwartz has spent a great deal of time researching this issue and in his excellent book The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less he explains how we can make ourselves happier and more fulfilled by reducing choice.
What are the 5 steps?
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We would be better off if we embraced certain voluntary constraints on our freedom of choice, instead of rebelling against them.
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We would be better off seeking what was “good enough” instead of seeking the best (have you ever heard a parent say “I want only the ‘good enough’ for my kids”?)
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We would be better off if we lowered our expectations about the results of decisions.
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We would be better off if the decisions we made were nonreversible
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We would be better off if we paid less attention to what others around us were doing.
A good overview of Barry Schwartz’s “The Paradox of Choice”. Also features a related TED talk.