Tortoise Knows Best

How to Cut Down on Choice: Randomise it!

Written by Matt Caulfield on August 28, 2009

In a previous post I spoke about the ridiculous level of choice I was bombarded with just to buy a new toaster. The Germans have a phrase for this ‘ die Qual der Wahl’ – the torture of choice. We have so many options we actually get stressed out trying to make decision! It is truly the case of more equals less. The more choices we have the less happy we actually end up.

So how can we limit our choices? Well, I am a big, big fan of “The Dice Man” novel by Luke Rhinehart, it is a satire about a man who delegates all his life decisions to the random rolling of a dice. By removing the conscious decision making process and putting the outcome of any decision in Lady Lucks hands you can reduce stress (the torture of choice) and sometimes come up with options you would never have thought of!

Now, I am not suggesting you go as far as the ideas in the novel suggest and actually randomise all your life decisions, but next time you find yourself in a quandary, if the options are too great and even after you have sorted it for your own criteria (price, preferred colour, whatever) and are still left with more than one option, randomly choose! You could flip a coin (like Two Face in the Batman comics!), role a dice, use a deck of cards, it is totally up to you.

It feels very odd at first, relinquishing control in this way, and you will often find yourself thinking things like “well, best out of 3…” to affect the outcome, but after a few bits of practice you will find it easier to go with the random result, and you will find it fun to see what outcomes spring up!

Over the weekend attempt to make a few (simple and non life changing) decisions by random chance, what to have for tea, what TV show to watch, that sort of thing, Then, once you get the hang of it and start enjoying it more, why not try it out on some buying decisions. I did it with a new camera a few years ago, and I still occasionally do a spot of “dice living” to get myself out of any annoying habitual patterns of behaviour I have picked up.

Have a good (and random!) weekend.

Matt

Choice: Too Much of a Good Thing?

Written by Matt Caulfield on July 24, 2009

Our toaster broke yesterday. Not being the most technical minded, my attempt at trying to fix it seems to have made it worse (I checked the fuse and any obvious loose cables), so, frustratingly, we had to go out and buy a new one (can’t live without toast, toast is one of the Idlers staple food stuffs…).

2 things annoyed me about the whole situation.

1) The toaster was just over a year old. Is that the built in lifespan of white goods now (conspiracy theorists would tell you it was designed to break just after the warranty ran out)? The idea of built in obsolescence annoys me and is purely designed to make us consume more and more (the toaster was obviously not designed to be able to be mended, you cannot take it apart without breaking it further). It is totally irresponsible and done just to make a quick buck. What happened to the “make do and mend” culture?

2) So, we had to go off and by a new toaster. We popped off to Argos down the road and found 60 (yes SIXTY!) different types of toasters to choose from. Do we really need 60 different types of toasters?! That overwhelming level of choice just creates a decision paralysis where you cannot make up your mind and just stare at the list like a buffoon for hours. In my “personal development” days when I was a bit of a “Ra, ra” Motivational Trainer type I used to say that the more choice you have the happier you would be. Now I know that is nonsense: too much choice just creates indecision and stress. Read “The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less” by Barry Schwartz for more details and very compelling argument about limited our choices

Actually make that 3 things!

3) On a personal note, I have realised how impractical I am, so I am off to learn some basic repairing skills! Any suggestions of ways to learn? Good books?

So, to try and save something from this, if anyone wants a broken toaster and think they can fix it, let me know, it is all yours…