Torello comments on Open Thread, May 19 - 25, 2014 - Less Wrong

2 Post author: somnicule 19 May 2014 04:49AM

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Comment author: Torello 21 May 2014 10:09:32PM 2 points [-]

If you're not familiar with the ideas read "The Paradox of Choice" by Barry Schwartz or watch a talk about it.

Other ideas:

give yourself a very short deadline for most decisions (most decisions are trivial); i.e. I will make this decision in the next two minutes and then I will stick with it. For long-term life decisions, maybe not so much.

Flip a coin. This is a good way to expose your gut feelings. A pros and cons type of weighting the options allows you to weigh lots of factors. Flipping a coin produces fewer reactions (in my experience): "Shoot, I really wish i had the other option (good information), or "I don't feel to strongly about the outcome (good information), or "I'm content with this flip" (good information).