You’re scrolling through Netflix, thinking about what to watch—you have the next two hours unexpectedly free, and you want to see what’s available. There are some great horror TV shows there now, but maybe a sci-fi series is more your speed. On the other hand, there are some really amazing original dramas… or maybe it’s a movie you’re looking for.
Five minutes of scrolling goes by. Then ten minutes. Then thirty.
Two hours later, you’re on the fence between One Piece and The Fall of the House of Usher.
What just happened?
The Bounty of Choices
31 flavors of ice cream. A closet full of clothes and nothing to wear. 57 channels and nothing on.
This phenomenon has a name: Fredkin’s Paradox.
Computer scientist Edward Fredkin described the phenomenon in a 1995 book where he explained that he would often spend more time making decisions about trivial matters, like choosing a peanut butter, than he would on really important decisions that affected the rest of his life.
Our world is inundated with choices. Supermarket aisles have 10 of the same product, made by competing brands. There are over 3 million unique podcasts out there. We’re kept in a cycle of perpetual indecision, wasting a great deal of our lives unable to decide about something that really doesn’t matter much.
The next time you find yourself scrolling endlessly or paralyzed in front of a wall of options, remember that this is a very common paradox. Paralysis by analysis affects all of us.
Lessons from History and Business
The tyranny of choice pervades us all, but there are some notable solutions we can find from history, especially among the eminent dead. There’s more than one way to crack the code, too.
Henry Ford famously simplified his production line by offering the Model T in “any color the customer wants, as long as it's black." From 1914 until 1925, more than 10 million black Model Ts were sold. Ford initially switched to all-black because "Japan Black" lacquer was one of the few paints for metal that dried quickly, and it was cheap to use only one color, but this was clearly a serendipitous decision.
US President Dwight Eisenhower had a particular way of cutting through this problem that did not mean reducing his choices to one the way Ford did. Instead, Ike devised a matrix I wrote a bit about here. By determining which actions would be the most important, Eisenhower began to be able to separate urgent things that weren’t important out. I often use this concept in my daily thinking.
Trader Joe’s follows an interesting strategy. Instead of tens of thousands of products competing for eyeball space, Trader Joe’s stocks a few thousand products total. By simplifying the architecture of choice, shoppers are less overwhelmed and more satisfied.
These are all good examples of historical ways choices have been reduced to make decisions easier, but how can we apply these principles in our own lives?
Getting to Good Enough
Part of the problem with scrolling through Netflix, or deciding between endless flavor varieties, or determining which blue shirt to wear today, is that these aren’t life or death decisions. There’s also not really a clear winner in most of these cases.
Does it matter if you watch that documentary right now? If you eat some chocolate ice cream, will it ruin your day thinking about how you could have had peanut butter cup instead?
Instead of asking yourself which option is perfect, sometimes it works better to ask if the first option you come across is good enough. Instead of chasing perfection, our old friend Pareto’s Principle applies here: don’t let perfection be the enemy of good!
You might also consider arbitrarily limiting your options, like Henry Ford did with his one choice. You could pick out three pretty good options, and decide quickly on the best from that list.
You can prioritize which tasks to work on next by applying the Eisenhower Matrix (also called the “urgent/important matrix”). Don’t get stuck wondering what to do next, but instead select the truly important things.
Finally, setting a decision time limit isn’t a bad idea. Count down from ten to one for more trivial decisions, or spend half an hour on more serious ones, but be sure to cap the time appropriately. Zoom out and make sure you’re not spending more time on the decision than the task itself.
We have a limited amount of decision-making within us in a given day, so sidestepping Fredkin's Paradox can free up mental bandwidth for the choices that truly matter.
What are some spots where you get stuck making a decision? Have you ever tried to address analysis paralysis before?
I think I get hung up on the question, especially when grocery shopping, or having to buy something, is this product what it says it is, or is it actually poison disguised as health food etc..
Or when I am doing research and think I’ve finally found the truth just to learn AI algorithms produce the information I view based on geography and clicks more than it is likely to produce information that is factual.
So if I can’t know if what I am buying, or the information that I am receiving is correct, then how can I possibly make any well informed decision for myself, my body, or my children. It makes my head want to explode.
So what I do is try to just take action and deal with the fallout later. I try to buy second hand, if it has more than 4 ingredients on the label, I try my best not to eat it, and I keep the objects in my life to a minimum and wear the same thing until it’s actually dirty, just like men do and have a pretty small wardrobe compared to most people. My kids don’t have a lot of toys and that’s mostly because I don’t want to spend hours of my life miserable because I’m constantly picking up after them. Having less, gives me more time spend enjoying/playing with my kids, and pursuing the relationships and activities in life that bring me peace and joy. And when I get stuck scrolling anything, I remind myself that I don’t want to wast my life away being a slave to a screen. If I can’t pick a movie or show within about 10 minutes, I shut the TV off and pick up a book instead. I am obviously not perfect in my practices, but going with my first impulse and not having much to choose from, helps me not get too stuck on the, what am I going to wear,watch,absorb, do, or consume today question- and more on does this make me feel good when I wear, watch, absorb, do or consume this- yes or no and then I move forward accordingly.
I've been appreciating less options more and more lately because of this. I honestly don't need everything. I just need a few things to pick from to be happy.