The photo above will take you to an episode of The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos that I found fascinating. I know that a lot of us want to make the best choices in every situation. We want to pick the best classes, buy the best mattress, have the best job, date the best life partner, etc. Some of us want so badly to make sure that we optimize every choice that two things happen.
First, we get stuck in taking forever to make a decision. Of course, it's worth looking at stasis as its own choice. Not making a decision is essentially making a decision to stick with whatever is happening now. By delaying picking an option until we're sure, we get stuck with what is for a lot longer, even when we know that what is, isn't what we actually want.
Second, by not picking something and moving forward, we lose out on other opportunities. Staying on this road, we never learn about all of the possible paths ahead. If we select something, even if it's not the best thing, we learn either that we like it–in which case, great–or that we don't–in which case, we can pick something else with more knowledge than last time. In either case, we're better off than if we get stuck not making the first step to change.
Sometimes it's hard to remember that even the sub-optimal choices move us closer to getting exactly what we want. So today's encouragement is to pick the path that satisfies at least one criterion that seems better than the road we're on now, and take it. Try to satisfice rather than optimize the possibilities. Then, once on that road, evaluate and move forward, either straight ahead, sideways, or in a U-turn. No matter what outcome comes from each choice, you're making moves with more knowledge than you had when you sat at the crossroads doing nothing.
What do you think? Please share your responses in the comments.