Choices cultivate contentment

Our technological world provides us with a hyperdizzying array of freedom.

The more options we discover, the more we feel like we are missing out. Tinder makes people more lonely. Regardless of where we are, the more we check our social feeds, the more we feel behind Instead, we should commit to what we have, and learn to be happy where we are. The more you think you have to make time for everything, the more miserable you will be when you fail. However, if we let it that means each choice we make is full of meaning, because it represents everything we gave up for it.

Making choices makes us happier. That's the JOY of missing out.

Indecision and launch anxiety

We prefer to sit in indecision because there is a gulf between the dreams in our heads and the projects we craft with out hands. In our minds, every future is equally possible. In our minds, there are no constraints. Our dreams live up to our dreams.

But we only have so much time on this earth, and the only way we can achieve our dreams is to make time now, to ship something now. Loss of time is a given. It's a relief to make peace with this idea.

Why do resist making choices?

The word 'Decision' means "to cut." We feel as though we are losing something when we make a decision. While there is an opportunity cost lost in making a decision, there is also an opportunity cost in standing still or running around in circles.

The paradox of choice

Having more choices makes us more miserable. Making decisions is how we fight back against the paradox of choice.

optimizers vs satisficers - optimizers spend more time stewing in the paradox of choice, which is why they are more miserable after all. Satisficers get to enjoy the fruits of making hard calls.