Book Notes: The Paradox of Choice Why Less is More by Barry Schwartz

Peak-end rule: "what we remember about the pleasurable quality of our past experiences is almost entirely determined by two things: how the experiences felt when they were at their peak (best or worst), and how they felt when they ended."

No doubt we have more access to information, especially from the Internet, to make decisions from. But because of clever advertising and marketing, we may be blinded. Humans also have certain psychological quirks that prevent us from making sense of information objectively eg, aversion to loss.

Maximisers vs Satisficers - Maximisers are less satisfied.

The main portion of the book discusses why we suffer when making decisions. They are interesting for us to understand ourselves better. The last chapter of the book sums up with actionable steps that we could take to make our lives easier:

What to Do About Choice

1. Choose When to Choose. “Two options is my limit” rule - visit no more than two stores when shopping for clothing or to consider no more than two locations when planning a vacation.
2. Be a Chooser, Not a Picker. Choosers have the time to modify their goals; pickers do not. Choosers have the time to avoid following the herd; pickers do not. Good decisions take time and attention, and the only way we can find the needed time and attention is by choosing our spots.
3. Satisfice More and Maximize Less. Knowing what is "good enough".
4. Think About the Opportunity Costs of Opportunity Costs. Strategies to avoid the disappointment that comes from thinking about opportunity costs:
1. Unless you’re truly dissatisfied, stick with what you always buy.
2. Don’t be tempted by “new and improved.”
3. Don’t “scratch” unless there’s an “itch.”
4. And don’t worry that if you do this, you’ll miss out on all the new things the world has to offer.
5. Make Your Decisions Nonreversible
6. Practice an “Attitude of Gratitude”
7. Regret Less. Mitigate regret by
1. Adopting the standards of a satisficer rather than a maximizer.
2. Reducing the number of options we consider before
3. making a decision.
4. Practicing gratitude for what is good in a decision rather than focusing on our disappointments with what is bad.
8. Anticipate Adaptation. To be better prepared for, and less disappointed by adaptation:
1. As you buy your new car, acknowledge that the thrill won’t be quite the same two months after you own it.
2. Spend less time looking for the perfect thing (maximizing), so that you won’t have huge search costs to be “amortized” against the satisfaction you derive from what you actually choose.
3. Remind yourself of how good things actually are instead of focusing on how they’re less good than they were at first.
9. Control Expectation. To make the task of lowering expectations easier:
1. Reduce the number of options you consider.
2. Be a satisficer rather than a maximizer.
3. Allow for serendipity.
10. Curtail Social Comparison:
1. Remember that “He who dies with the most toys wins” is a bumper sticker, not wisdom.
2. Focus on what makes you happy, and what gives meaning to your life.
11. Learn to Love Constraints