The Paradox of Choice

Hey there. Welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session, we're going to talk about the paradox of choice. So this idea comes from the research of Dr. Barry Schwartz, who wrote the book, Paradox Of Choice.

He makes a compelling argument for the idea that more choices may actually be a form of mental tyranny. Now on one hand, we might hear that and go, that's just not true. I love having choice and the more choices I have, the freer, I am. I hear you. But have you also had that experience of going into the grocery store, trying to pick out toilet paper, but not being able to choose which one because there are 37 options.

Or maybe going to a restaurant and feeling paralyzed because there are so many great meal options and it actually becomes stressful to choose one. The tyranny is not in the choice, not in what you're choosing. It's in the opportunity cost, the things that you have to give up. Choosing one great meal out of five potential great meals on the menu doesn't just mean getting that meal. It also means not getting to the, to experience the other four.

The more choices we have, the more opportunities we have to pass up. Much of this mental tyranny could obviously be put in the category of first world problems. And a certain amount of choice is absolutely important for freedom and wellbeing, and I'm not denying that in the slightest. But it may be interesting to explore where more choice is actually creating tension or stress in your life. And instead of feeling like you need to maximize everything, which I am certainly guilty of, what would it be like to take more of a satisficing role? Being okay with the choice at hand, even knowing that there are a lot of other choices out there.

One of the things I really appreciate about mindfulness is that it it's helped me with this. It's helped me to, to be present with what I have, the choice that I've made and to let go of the ideas of like, well, what if I did this or what if I had that. Those are thoughts. Those are ideas. That's the maximizing mentality, but we don't have to be enslaved to it.

We could watch it and then come back, be present with what's here and appreciate what's here. So just start to notice what your tendency is. Are you someone that, that satisfices? That says, oh actually, this is good enough. Or are you more of the maximizer? I need to have it perfect. Or I need to get the best option of all of these.

And notice how that might be impacting your wellbeing. We'll play around with more of this in the meditation. As always, thank you for your practice. I'll talk to you shortly. Take care.