I do see that it can be a problem for everyday purchases, but fortunately I don’t think too much about them.

I do use, for pretty much everything in my life the rule to do the least to get the most (that is satisfatory). Maximizing AND having fun, as long as it doesn’t have a negative impact in personal relatioships, is a good thing!

It also strikes me as related to how good sales and service people justify their jobs. Someone who is knowledgeable, stocks a good/appropriate selection, and informs and steers you with regard to your individual needs. And NOT manipulating you into purchasing what they happen to have on hand that perhaps some clueless purchasing manager selected on the basis of lowest inventory cost and/or profit maximization.

If you’re looking for some limiters for hair products, try cruelty free products (check the labels) or lower toxin products (via http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com).

I experienced this myself once. I love shoes and normally, I love shopping for shoes. I found a pair of shoes that I really liked at a store once. Turns out, there was a good deal if you bought a second pair of shoes! I stressed out so much because I couldn’t find the perfect second pair. That’s when I realized that too many choices are just that…too many! I didn’t need the second pair! I should’ve just bought the one pair that I LOVED and forgot about the “deal.”

Also, whenever I pick something out that I like and someone asks me, “Are you SURE that’s the one you want?” it irritates me. I start to second-guess myself. The tried and true and first instinct are usually the best.

MAKE A DECISION PLEASE! Sometimes just the stress of going back and forth and the health problems that it will cause outweigh making a bad decision.

No matter what, you will lose some, and you will win some. But you have to play the game.

These seemt to be opposite ideas, but really they’re both about avoiding paralysis. In this post, people are paralyzed by choice. Perfect is the enemy of the Good.

In other situations, it’s better to do a great job than it is to do a good job, but good will get you by. Getting your degree is a good example. You can do the minimum to pass your classes or you can do an excellent job, get to know your professors, explore research options in your field, etc. It’s easy and tempting to be good enough, but being great is some much more worthwhile.

——

Re: Stick with what you know, I both agree and disagree. I agree if you’re changing for the saking of maximizing your experience. I disagree if it’s out of laziness. The world is constantly changing. It’s much better to get used to change when there’s little at stake; it makes bigger changes that much easier to accept.

I think what it stems from is that I hate shopping so, for example if I’m after a pair of shoes, I’ll go for the first pair that meets my requirements (including budget). Then if they serve me well I’ll try to get the same type when they eventually wear out (works for my steel-capped shoes).

I will do some basic comparison shopping by calling a few places to ask if they sell the shoe and how much they sell it for. Generally I won’t call more than about 3 shops including the people I bought them from the last time (my “control” price).

As for computers, because they are pricey and change quickly, I’ll look for things that can be modified later (e.g. more RAM can be added). I dither a bit because if I’m going to fork out at least $1,000 I want to make sure I get a decent quality product that’s going to last several years. Now I just ask my computer savy mother (a maximiser) to do the looking for me.

With our last car purchase I had the good fortune of working for 21 months for an organisation with pool cars that I had to drive for work purposes. This meant that I was test driving cars in the general size we’d be looking at and at the same time earning the dough to pay for one. It also meant that I could cross off the list some otherwise very good cars that didn’t meet certain criteria (like a full size spare tyre).

The concepts from the book even helped me pick a halloween costume that served perfectly well! I already knew that a primary form my procrastination takes is indecisiveness – but I’m usually only indecisive when facing limitless choice. Give me three options and I’ll pick one immediately. I too have spent goodly chunks of time reading labels for hair products, and any number of other interchangable things. It’s actually embarrassing to think of that time wasted on a a solution that was not so much unimortant, but where WHICH solution was unimportant.

i maximize as well by doing the most with stuff i already have on hand and i don’t but stuff unless i really need it. i hunt for deals too but i also factor in transportation cost, quality and reliability. cutting corners can help but when you are cutting corners at the expense of usability and practicality….you need to re-evaluate if what you are doing is really helping you out.

I’m in the throes of undergoing a financial transformation and reading this article made me really happy that I’m learning self control.

I recently had to purchase a new pair of glasses, which is a horrendous experience – you try 50 pairs on and still can’t decide which pair enlarges your eyes while creating a perfect jawline (yes, I’m a maximiser).

However, to control the urge to shop around, I allowed myself one (1) shop to buy glasses from, thereby limiting a) the amount of hassle I was going to experience and b) getting sight back quicker.

I’m not sure it was the greatest lesson – I still bought practically the most expensive pair in the shop – but at least it wasn’t the most expensive pair in the most expensive store in town.

But you’re also right–too much choice usually sends me home with nothing

I did the same thing buying a car–I bought a two-year old Toyota Yaris because it is a good, reliable car and most of what I’d be paying for beyond that is stuff I don’t need. I could’ve saved money getting an older car or a different brand, but it likely would’ve required more repairs.

Where I really min/max is on household stuff. I don’t buy anything kind-of-good, it’s either really good or really cheap. So I have one really good knife and a set of crappy ones I got free for sitting through a vaccuum sales pitch. I have a Henkels cheese slicer and a second-hand bread knife. My bed cost some major money but my couch was free.

I don’t really think of it as sticking with what’s good enough, because I fully intend to get an HDTV, a new couch, a set of Henkels knives…. Just not yet.

All this time waiting for insurance money led me to too many choices and the inability to just order what I want online (bikes must be bought in bike shops due to distributor rules, but bike shops may not stock anything you want) plus the choices on Craigslist and ebay complicating it all….well, I haven’t been on a bike in two months. Argh.

For anyone interested in pursuing Schwartz’ ideas at a deeper level, I recommend checking out his website for some of his more radical essays regarding choice, over-consumption, super-Capitalism, and the importance of social capital. Ultimately, Schwartz, like others working in the positive psychology realm, is simply trying to discover ways of increasing human well-being. I can tell you from personal experience that he truly cares about making the world a better place for all.

I suppose I am a maximizer, but since I bring time into the equation, I often make choices like a satisficer. That is, I appreciate that more time will probably lead to a better result, but usually I say, “Good enough, now I’m going to play on my Wii.”

I noticed that when I shopped with a friend who was a BIG-TIME maximizer (ditherer, from my possibly self-righteous judging perspective), I would often buy a lot more than I would ordinarily. I think I was trying to model decisive behavior, but it cost me a lot of money!

Looking at it from a Myers-Briggs perspsective, I have a lot of discomfort in the pre-decision time frame, and so I try to make it as short as possible (just decide and move on). Perceivers really need a long decision-making time frame. I think it’s possible to recognize and modify our behaviors, but I don’t know fully we can change our spots.

When presented with too many choices, we don’t make one at all.

Great tips for just choosing something and being done with it. I find the focusing on only the important stuff to be ridiculously useful. It’s 80-20′ing it: focus on the 20% of things and choices that’ll bring you 80% results, then ruthlessly ignore the rest.

I’d like to add to the list:

Before choosing (or even looking at) something, write out your requirements first. What characteristics or functions the item has to fulfill, or how the opportunity has to benefit you.

Only THEN go out and look for stuff. Immediately filter things to your requirements. Choice is greatly reduced right away, so you’re only looking at a few choices while not even being tempted by the rest.

It’s like shopping online and reducing results by the filters on the sidebar.

Thanks for the reminder about the importance of REDUCING choice rather than getting more of it,
Oleg

PS. I read a story on the reason Jimmy John’s succeeded so quickly is because of the lack of choice. Just one size and one type of bread (eliminating choices there) and only a large handful of different sandwich types.