"CHOICE FATIGUE" AND HOW TO AVOID IT

"There are so many opportunities... I don't know how anyone can sleep!"
​-Joel Salatin

PART 1: What it Choice Fatigue?

Entrepreneurs are faced with choices every day.  Heck! We're all faced with choices everyday!

In this article, I will be going over what Choice Fatigue Is, How To Avoid It, and How To View Choices From Now On.

Choice Fatigue is not some "mental dilemma", its a serious conversation that needs to be had.  I wouldn't put it in the depression and anxiety caliber, but it is still very dangerous to toy with.

Choice Fatigue is the overwhelming sense you get when faced with too many options, too often.  Its what makes you lose interest in shopping when there are TOO many colors to choose from when picking the paint color for your wall.  I mean, can you even tell the difference between some of those colors???  Its the feeling that hits you over the head and makes you want to curl up in a ball and never be shown another decision you have to make again.
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Why are we faced with Choice Fatigue (CF)?

CF has gained a stronger foothold in your life every day since the day the word "globalization" was invented.  When the world became a smaller place (as people like to say because travel is faster and language is no longer a barrier) you were exposed to more choices. Where to eat, where to live, where to vacation, what to see, who to meet, where to go to college, what business to start are all examples of choices that have exponentially grown.

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CF exploded even more with the invention of the internet.  Now, people have limitless options of who to friend, who to follow, what to read, what to watch, what to learn, how to perform a backwards double flip turn underwater while balancing an egg! Even the topics are endless!

Entrepreneurs are faced with CF when they are considering what business to start now more than ever.  200 years ago, if your father was a shoe maker, you became a shoe maker.  If your mother was a midwife, you became a midwife.  Just look at the available majors on a college's website.  There are fields of study that you have never even heard of!  The world has become a much LARGER place, and with it, many more options for the toughest decisions you can make.

PART 2: How to Avoid It

The best way to avoid CF is to never give it a chance to occur.  Make decisions sooner.

You need to know something. If you don't pick the best choice, it will be okay. You don't need to know every shirt available for Friday's party, you don't need to start the most profitable business.

Be like Steve Jobs.  Be instinctual.

In most cases, the sheer time you save making the decision faster makes up for the shortcomings of the choice you when with.  Time is money. Money is time.

If you spend one hour browsing the internet to find which retailer sells that new headphones you want for $119, when the first retailer you saw in the first 2 minutes was selling it for $129, you saved $10 dollars.  Congratulations.

But how much is that hour you spent worth?

If your salary is even minimum wage, your time was more valuable buying the first pair of headphones.

Don't question your decision. Contemplating if you made the right or wrong decision takes up energy. A lack of energy is a symptom of CF. If you have spent all your brainpower thinking about your last choice, the next one will be much more difficult. CF is notorious for giving a sense of lack of motivation to encounter choices.  Don't let CF take affect even after you have made your decision.

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YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:
​"The First Cognitive Bias by Charlie Munger | Incentives"

PART 3: How to View Choices From Now On

I know it may be hard to believe, but there is not always a right and wrong choice.  More specifically, if there are 15 places that you could go to on vacation, there is not 1 right choice and 14 wrong ones.  There is simply the 1 destination you vacationed at, and the 14 you didn't.

Do you see the difference?

CF can be completely eliminated when you accept the fact that not everything is black and white.  I think that one of the biggest contributors to CF is the regret factor.  Rather, the "What if I regret?" factor.  Hind sight is always 20/20.

Whenever the dreaded regret factor comes to you, take that thought and think to yourself these words:
"There is no wrong choice here. There is merely the choice I make."

Enjoyed this Article?

Feel free to share this article on Social Media.  Chances are, if you have ever encountered Choice Fatigue, your friends and family have too.  If you found this article helpful, they will too.

Unfortunately, your friends, family, and co-workers have to make the choice to actually read it... so you might actually be contributing to their suffering of CF! hehe

Thanks for reading!

-Dick Polipnick
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