November 6, 2013

The curse of freedom

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In the western world we enjoy the freedom to do almost anything. You could spend your day getting a tattoo or learning Spanish or cataloguing videos of kittens playing the piano. You could work as a firefighter or blogger or start a business designing inflatable cutlery.

All this freedom has come at a cost: the need to make constant choices. This wouldn’t be a problem, except we suck at choices.

Ironically, the more choices we have, the harder it is to make decisions. If you ask someone to choose an iPhone in one of three colours they should have little problem. Now tell them they can have it in any colour they can imagine, and watch their foreheads crinkle.

When your options are infinite, it’s impossible to pick the best option. But a fear of making the wrong decision can stop us from choosing anything. Like a career, for instance.

We also like easy decisions. This means we’re incredibly easy to manipulate, because given the choice between “go for a run” or “go for a drink” we’re liable to act against our own best interests. Companies and advertisers exploit this habit relentlessly.

Of course we sometimes take the tough decisions. But only for a while. Scientists have long observed that willpower is finite, and that each tough decision you make weakens your ability to keep doing so (until you recharge on food and sleep). That gym session you managed makes you more vulnerable to choosing chocolate cake later. This is the main reason tough habits are hard to keep: we literally grow weak from trying to enforce them.

The solution to making better choices is to impair our freedom. You need to make hard decisions that restrict your ability to make dumb decisions later. You need to plan for your own weakness.

• Make fewer choices. Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg wear the same outfit every day. Obama insists on only having two colours of suit. Adopting a no-brain routine for choices like these frees more of your attention for decisions that matter.
• When a decision has infinite possibilities, satisfice. A satisficer looks for the first option that satisfies their needs sufficiently. It helps to know how you might reverse the decision; you’ll rarely need to, but it can free you from the fear of making a flawless choice.
• Pare down your distractions. Most of us now carry the Internet in our pockets, ensuring we’re two taps away from the entirety of human understanding anytime we take a poop. When you decide to work, put your phone, email and other distractions aside so that you couldn’t reach them easily if you tried.
• Always do the most difficult and important things early in your day. By the time you need lunch, your precious willpower – which is mostly blood glucose – will be fading. Fun stuff should come last, where it becomes an easy choice that can’t harm you.

Freedom is a wonderful privilege, but don’t underestimate the burden of your choices. If you don’t protect yours, the world will make them for you.

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