D·11
Decisions & Judgment
Satisfice on Everything but the Few
People who seek the best option end up with objectively better outcomes and feel worse about them.
- Evidence
- solid
- Topic
- Decisions
- Things to do
- 3
- Read
- 1 min
solidHow strong is the evidence?
Good evidence behind it, but fewer people have checked it independently.
- Iyengar, Wells & Schwartz, Psychological Science, 2006 — maximiser graduates earned 20% more, were less satisfied
- Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice (2004)
Why it works
Maximising raises the count of forgone alternatives, and every unexplored option becomes a candidate regret.
What to do about it
- Set the criteria first, take the first option that clears them, stop looking.
- Reserve maximising for the handful that compound: where you live, who you work with, who you marry, what you do daily.
- Once decided, close the tab. Do not check what the alternative is doing.
Where people go wrong
Maximising on things with a low ceiling — a toaster, a hotel, a flight. The extra search is pure cost.
Read next
- It Will Matter Less Than You ThinkWe badly overestimate how long any outcome — good or bad — will affect our happiness.solid
- Work Expands to Fill the TimeGive a task a deadline and a fixed box, or it will consume everything available and finish no better.solid
- Three Good ThingsWriting down three things that went well, and why, each night for a week raises wellbeing measurably for months.solid
- Start From the Base RateAsk what usually happens to cases like this one before you consider what is special about this one.proven