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One of the reasons you and I have such trouble taking action is that we’re overloaded with options.
It’s more difficult to make twenty major decisions, any of which could lead to failure, than to make one decision, the same decision, over and over again.
I’m at that period in my life where I could have heaps – literally millions – of options. I’ve heard many times from supposedly brilliant people that when you’re young, you should create as many options as you can. In fact, according to some, creating options should be a guiding principle in all my decisions. Think, “Does this open more options for me?” If the answer’s yes, then follow that path.
That’s hogwash. Options not chosen paralize. Options not chosen dilute the attractiveness of the option chosen, which leads regret if the decision is even made at all.
I’m not married, so I’ll use that decision process as an example.
Decision #1: Get married or not? Let’s say get married.
Decision #2: Get married today or not? Let’s say not.
Decision #3: Then when? Let’s say in two months.
Decision #4: What do I need to do before then? Insane.
The more questions you ask, the more options you create – exponentially. You can see how quickly the decisions explode into thousands of options. Sometimes you have thousands of options for just one decision.
Adding to the overload, when you choose one option, by the process of elimination, you’re eliminating all the other options. That’s good for decision making, but hard on the decision maker. The decision might be the right one, but in the moment of decision, it’s extremely difficult to just throw out all those other options. That’s option overload.
So pull the bondChristian move and don’t create options. How many times have you heard, “No one should tell me how live my life.” No offense to the world of friends who’ve said that, but that’s exactly what I want someone to tell me. That’s why I’m a bondChristian.
And yes, two options can still be too many. Two options can still be option overload.
Serving Suggestions:
(1) Pick a decision in your life, the first one that comes to mind. How could you get out adding options to it? How could you reduce the options? That’s what you need to do.
(2) Answer in the comments: what’s the #1 decision you feel most overwhelmed to make? (Notice how I framed that question. I wrote it so it’s difficult to even choose an answer to it. Ah, the difficultly of choosing just one.)
Twitter Updates
Yep I can say you are totally right, people tend to freeze when confronted with too man options. That is one reason why there are fewer options for buying Windows 7 and why I was trained to present benefits not options. You don’t say, “product x has features abcd and product y has features bceg” you ask a person what they need using the right kind of open ended questions and then tell them what the product you think is going to be best will do for them, “great, so if I understand you need a widget that will do bce, I have product y that does that and will help you by …” If they want more options then expand but only as much as they want.
As for marriages, I only half jokingly recommend that everyone elope. After going through our wedding I wish we had. Rather I wish we had literally gone to Vegas (we got married near there anyways) and invited friends and family but no reception or other such craziness, just simple and fun.
Nick,
I love the business example. So aptly put: benefits, not options. This “option overload” idea is true across many different topics.
Another, now classic example involves two jelly stands. One stand had like 100 different flavors. One stand had only three. The stand with 100 options attracted more people, who were then able to sample the flavors. However, overall, the stand with only three flavors sold more jellies. Of course the reason why is up for interpretation, but many researchers concluded that the stand with 100 flavors offered too many options. People were stuck having to choose between one or more very good flavors and one or more other very good flavors. In the end, many people couldn’t decide and would end up not buying any. The risk of not buying the right jelly was too great.
Sounds insane when you’re just talking about jelly, right? But if it works there, you’ve got to wonder how much more powerfully it works in other, more important decisions.
As a side note too, I love how much business, marketing in particular, can teach about the decisions we make. Good stuff.
On the eloping topic, I’m skeptical. As a guy, I’m all about it. Sure, how ’bout tomorrow, right? I think it’s the bride who really cares about the wedding, so it’s difficult for me to suggest it from a completely others-oriented perspective. Not sure though. Do you have any thoughts about that (wife’s vs. husband’s perspective on eloping)?
-Marshall Jones Jr.
I have recommended to at least a dozen couples but none of them have taken my suggestion seriously. I think all instances involve concern over “the special day” and what the family will think. In the half dozen or so that I’ve been closer to the bride is inevitably overwhelmed the last week or so before the wedding right up to the wedding day. They end up saying, “I wish I had just eloped.” After the fact, though, they are happy about the wedding and moving on with life.
My warning about eloping is more about knowing that all those details aren’t really important. If everything is perfect that is nice but if everything goes horribly wrong and the couple endures that is better so long as they understand the important part and learn to laugh.