The Secret to Your Unhappiness is in Your Toothpaste

I’m going to try a new kind of blog post, just to experiment with format. Let’s juxtapose snippets of information and come to a hypothesis. I’ll call it a 1 + 1 post.

Beyond the age of information is the age of choices. —Charles Eames

plus

In one study, participants were asked to choose an art poster. One group was told that their decision was irreversible, while the other group was told that they could exchange the poster they chose for another one at any time.

Later, participants were asked to rank their satisfaction with the poster they chose. The people who couldn’t change their decision were more satisfied with their posters than the other group who were allowed to swap. — from a study by Dan Gilbert

equals

We live in an age of options. We perceive having choices as something that is good. But, as much as we think options make us happy, they sometimes actually do the opposite. Having too many choices can be paralyzing and may turn us fickle. Worse yet, too many options may leave us unsatisfied and unhappy, the exact opposite of what we think they’ll do for us.

We’ll consider the opportunity cost of just about any decision. It’s why we’re paralyzed in front of the 47 different kinds of toothpaste in the aisle at Walgreen’s. Do I want my mouth to smell like a wintery mountain top or a citrusy rush? Tartar control or extra-whitening?

On the other hand, if you’re stuck with something, you’ll find a way to like it, even if it means changing how you think about it.

People talk about the new era we’ve entered and how it requires a completely new skill set to thrive. So, let’s add this to the list: we must prepare ourselves a way to approach not a scarcity of options, but rather an abundance of them. Our happiness depends on it.