The Hidden Downside of Too Many Choices: How Decision Overload is Sabotaging Your Growth

The Cost Of Indecision

An average person makes around 35000 choices a day. We start our day trying to decide what to eat, a toast, a scrambled egg, a bagel or just coffee? We go to the super market to decide what we will buy from the market shelves among 1000’s of options just for breakfast cereal, cheese and so on.

Social media is only adding fuel to the fire. But with greater prosperity and more options, this peculiar kind of sorrow, which was once only felt by a very small number of people, has become nearly a global epidemic. Compare myself to my favorite influencer and I just simply don’t have the unlimited choices of splurges he or she seems to be having on a daily basis. And that is driving us to strive even harder at taking into consideration everything we see out there – even if it is completely irrelevant to how we want to live our lives.

The Digital Age Of Global Options

How the world is right now and what is happening to us as a result:

1. We are making more decisions than ever.
2. Our attention is under unprecedented attack.
3. We are suffering from a personal energy crisis.

With today’s technology-enabled unstoppable flow of everything coming at us, we can often feel so worn out and tired that we face our own personal energy crisis. We can’t muster the mental energy to think clearly and, in a knowledge-work world, that is a problem.

The Paradox of Choice

More is less says the author Barry Schwartz in his book, The Paradox Of Choice. He says that happiness may lie in limiting our choices rather than increasing them. There are side effects to increasing the scope of our choices and options.

1. Each decision requires more effort.
2. Mistakes are more likely.
3. The psychological consequences of those mistakes are greater.

An abundance of choice is one of the main sources of psychological pain, since it involves the anxiety of missed opportunities and the regret of paths not taken.

The Power To Choose

Greatness lies in all of us, in our freedom of choice and our free will. Even though we often have no control over what happens to us, we always have the power over how it affects us and how we respond to our circumstances.

Einstein said, “You can make a choice to live in a hostile or friendly universe”. Embrace the idea that you will not get 100% of what you always desire for. And that somewhere you will have to settle if you really want to move onto the next big thing.

Make Quick Decisions, Have A Happy Life

Our brains are our life savers. They want us to be happy, and get away with as little work as possible. As a result, they try to arrive at the fastest conclusion for decisions based on our past experiences, our biases and our beliefs.

But that’s actually living life in reaction mode rather than in deliberate response mode. When we are intentional, we become aware of our assumptions and preconceived notions. We are able to make smart decisions and strive towards our goals longer.

Here are FOUR questions you ask yourself in the face of a decision:

1. What is important: payoff mode
2. How am I going to get it done: process mode.
3. Who needs to get involved: people mode.
4. What if this or that happens: possibilities mode.

Choices Vs. Decisions

The main reason why we don’t like to make a choice quickly is because we fear missing out on the best option available or regretting our choice we make now. Also, how can we choose when we might need everything that is being offered to choose from?

In such cases, we need to get to the main theme of our life. What do we really want? That will help us focus on what truly matters rather than on what is being offered. We are better when we are genuinely fulfilled rather than going into a comparison trap of wondering what others think we need.

Decisions ultimately come from desire and a justification based on what we’re expected to do. Decisions seek validation because they are externally focused.

Gratitude And The Price Of Admission

Here’s the thing. Having an option to choose from, in itself, is a privilege we can’t take lightly. So just be grateful for the available options and choose quickly and diligently. Choice must come from within us, and we must take full responsibility for making a decision. We must commit to it, so it gives us the full power that comes with accountability.

No matter what the scenario is, the thing with choice is that we don’t know beforehand if it sucks. And that’s the price of admission, and we must just accept it. Simply put, sometimes, we have no choice but to make one. And any amount of overthinking will not change the outcome.

In the end, the only choice that truly matters is this. Every moment of our lives, we are beckoned to either move forward into our growth or fall back into safety. The courage to do the right thing, in the face of obstacles, is the real intentional choice that will truly shape the course of our lives.

The Choices Before Us By Hidden Brain 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hidden-brain/id1028908750?i=1000473584726

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