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I happened to read one random article entitled "The Tyranny of Choice" by Barry Schwartz a few days ago. He illustrates how choice overload can lead to uncertainty, anxiety, and perhaps depression. Having more choices are essentially good for those who know exactly what they want, and therefore, having more alternatives is indeed a bless. However, ones still have to spend a great deal amount of time balancing all the pluses and minuses before making their ultimate decision in order to make a good informed decision.
He further divided human's behavior into two different categories, the maximizer and the satisficer. The maximizers yearn for the best out of every decision they made while the satisficers aim for just "good enough", and once they have found what they were seeking for, they would stop looking. The maximizers, on the other hand, feel the need to spend longer time deciding, yet mostly ended up feeling unsatisfied of the decision they made. They have the higher tendency to regret what they chose, and always come up with the thought of "what if?"
We all have to make decisions at one point in life or another, ranging from trivial matters to a crucial life changing ones. We had to choose variety of items to purchase at the stores, be it foods, beverages, clothes, accessories, or perhaps a birthday gift for someone, you name it. We walk from aisle to aisle, stores to stores, and ended up getting something or nothing at all. There are just too many things for us to choose from which has somehow made shopping more difficult and more time consuming than it was before. In fact, choice overwhelming does not just arise at the mall, but almost in every aspect of our lives including future career, friendship, romance- something like which degree should I pursue, What types of friends do I wish to hang around with, who will become my Prince Charming, and would he be the one?
I guess I am a maximizer after all. I always aim for the best, and later feel disappointed when I cannot live up to my own expectation. Maybe i should come up with some sort of boundary like having my ultimate goal set, create a specific and acceptable requirement or standard, and stop looking back on bygones once it has past. I shouldn't be spending as much of my time getting frustrated at little things, not wasting 1 hours just to pick what clothes to wear to the party, 3 hours just to pick one small topic for Language Arts Oral Report, 5 hours or perhaps my whole day just to shop for clothes, and forever just to choose what topic I should write about for my History term paper.
I meant, I don't have all the time in the world to do all these, especially when it comes to something like shopping, clothing, and stuffs. Yes, I need to prioritize what is more important to my life, and what is less. I need to have the ability to distinguish what matters, and what don't. Eliminating unnecessary choices is indeed healthier for my personal well-being, and I should start it from now, and if any of you out there feel the same way I do, I hope you would join this mission together with me :)
P.S. Forgive me if I don't make sense to you as I actually have tons of homework awaiting me yet I am still blogging and goofing off.
P.S.S. Oh, and by the way, I think I know why Albert Einstein decided to wear the same clothes all over and over again lol... because he didn't want to waste his precious time just to choose what to wear everyday since this genius gifted man has more important tasks to do ^ ^ haha...
