More Choice, Hence Less Freedom

November 1, 2016 by Gordon O. Yonel (visit: www.renaissanceXcoaching.com).

More Choice, Hence Less Freedom

Why do we have trouble feeling satisfied with our final decision despite spending all that time carefully weighing the pros and cons of each option available to us?

– What do you want for dinner?”

– I don’t know: what do you want?”

From smartphones to dating partners, TV subscriptions to schools, utility companies to jeans, we think the more choices we have the better. But too many options create anxiety and leave us less satisfied.

Psychologist and professor of social theory Barry Schwartz makes the claim “more is less” in his book “The Paradox of Choice.” He says that despite the common belief that freedom of choice liberates us and creates happiness, when presented with too many choices, it can actually hinder our productivity, happiness and progress. Standard line is that choice is good for us, that it confers on us freedom, personal responsibility, self-determination and autonomy. Yet none of this helps when you are standing on aisle 4 before layers of water bottles with 27 different brands, increasingly dehydrated and unable to chose. “Standard economic theory will tell you that more choice is always better,” says T. Besedes, an associate professor in economics at the Georgia Institute of Technology. However, according to Schwartz, “the view of added options can only make us better off as a society is logically compelling but empirically isn’t true.” Similarly, psychologists David Myers and Robert Lane independently concluded that the current abundance of choice often leads to depression and feelings of isolation.

WHILE IN THEORY HARD TO BELIEVE, RESEARCH SHOWS THAT IN PRACTICE, WHEN YOU GIVE PEOPLE A LOT OF OPTIONS, IT CAN FREEZE US IN OUR TRACKS LEADING TO INACTION, OR A LINGERING SENSE OF DISSATISFACTION AND UNHAPPINESS EVEN AFTER WE MADE OUR FINAL DECISION.

It has been demonstrated that companies who sell 24 different types of jam make less sales than those who only offer 6 varieties of jam. Our brains – already over-worked and exhausted – cannot cope with too many options. Similarly, records obtained from the giant mutual fund company Vanguard show for every new added 10 fund options employees could chose from for their pension plans, employee participation rates declined by 2%.

CHOICE OVERLOAD LED TO CHOICE ANXIETY, EXHAUSTION AND INACTION.

Schwartz starts his book telling a story about going to a store to buy jeans. There used to be only one kind. When he walked into the store, after years of not having bought a new pair of jeans, he was confronted with a million questions from the sales assistant. Boot-fit? Stone-washed? Straight-leg? Distressed? Low-cut? Relaxed fit? Button fly? Slightly distressed? Very distressed? Zip fly? Thigh-holed? Knee and thigh-holed? Schwartz was understandably overwhelmed. He spent two hours trying on jeans. And when he left the store, he admits that he was wearing the best pair of jeans he’d ever owned… but he was less happy about his choice. Why?

BECAUSE WHEN WE’RE PRESENTED WITH MORE OPTIONS, GOOD ENOUGH ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH. WE EXPECT PERFECTION. CHOICES WE PASSED UP ALWAYS AND FOREVER LINGER IN THE BACK OF OUR MINDS CASTING DOUBT IN OUR FINAL DECISION, REDUCING OUR SATISFACTION WITH OUR ALREADY MADE CHOICE.

As a practicing life coach, when presented with a client who is experiencing the downside of always seeking perfection, a tact that I take is to explore that client’s exposure to choice. Therefore I say, pick your battles. Learn to differentiate what is important and what is superficial or insignificant.

WORK EXPANDS TO FILL THE TIME AVAILABLE FOR ITS COMPLETION.

In other words, if you give yourself a week to do something, it will take you a week. But if you allow yourself an hour, it will take you an hour. You have limited energy to make decisions each day. Accordingly, time spent and energy wasted to take one decision goes at the expense of another perhaps more important decision the same day. Ever wondered why great Steve Jobs always wore the same outfit no matter what day of the week?

As soon as I’ve finished writing this article, I am going to go through my bookshelves and divide my books into a few piles. I’ll keep my absolute favorite pieces I want to read soon, but I am going to donate what’s left over to local library and schools. I can already tell this is going to make my life so much more simple, and productive. I can finally read some of the books I’ve owned for so long, instead of continuing staring at all of them, unable to choose, waiting for that “one day,” as I did for decades. And this… i.e., reduced choice, is liberating to me.