When I write one blog post here, I can’t write another on that same day
Do I just have one idea each day? Do you? No way. We have many.
Here we have the concept of “choice,” I choose one idea, which means I can’t choose another.
Then we have other choices while we go. Many of which are subconsciously running:
While I’m writing, should I stop to go grab some water?
Should I check my phone?
What is the weather going to be like today? I could check the app…?
In 2005, Barry Schwartz gave a speech after writing a book “The Paradox of Choice”
The punchline is that in the age of abundance, we have infinite choice, and, it could be making us unhappy.
It makes us unhappy because even when we make a decision to choose/buy/make something, we “could have” chosen something else.
As there are more options, there is more perceived opportunity cost.
Of course, now with the world online, there’s an infinite possibility to be doing something else on an ongoing basis (has someone sent you an email as you’ve been reading this?).
Perhaps Schwartz is asserting that this choice is fuelling the wandering mind – a mind that sits elsewhere rather than here. And, as we know, a wandering mind is an unhappy mind.
So as intelligent as we may perceive ourselves to be then as evolved humans, it may be turning out that the only way to circumnavigate this dilemma is with “blocking” – partial removal of other options, or limiting “choice” in order to elevate presence (and happiness!) with our current situation.
