It is great that in today’s world we are given so many choices no matter what we are considering – everything from schools, computers, clothes, etc.. Choice can be amazing and a way for us to express our own individuality. Choice can also overwhelm us though and even at times paralyze us.
The Upside of Choice
Having options can be a great thing. We all have different needs and priorities and having a wide variety of options is fantastic. It allows us to customize our products and services to our specific needs; it allows us to literally pay for what we want.
But lets face it, choices can be overwhelming. By using modern technology though in many cases we can take an overwhelming task and convert it into a very manageable decision. For example, just recently I was looking for a new computer. By using the store’s filtering system on their website, I was able to filter down to what matters the most to me in a computer. By the time I had added in all my must-have filters, my choice essentially was made for me. Presto!
The Downside of Choice
On the flip side, choice can be overwhelming. And becoming overwhelmed can be paralyzing at times. While the above example has built-in options for helping us make our decision, not every decision in life is so easy.
For example, selecting what school to go to takes manual research. There is, that I know of, not any system that provides the features of each school and allows you to narrow them down like they do for computers. For many of us, we approach this endeavor with glee and excitement. For others of us, understandably, this type of task can be overwhelming.
My best advice in these situations is to break the task down into parts. For example, when researching schools, it often helps to make a list of everything that is important to you as a first step. Then, make a list of schools that have potential to be the school for you. From there, one at a time take time to research each school individually and discover whether they fit what you have determined to be important to you. Once you have a narrowed down list, it became so much easier to make a choice. This step-by-step strategy can be applied to just about any “manual” decision you have to make.
How do you Make Decisions?
What do you do when you have so many choices? What strategies do you employ for making a decision? Do too many choices overwhelm you? If so, how do you proceed?
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