Have you ever noticed that when we need to choose one thing from many similar ones, we get to feel anxious? Have you ever wondered why this happens? Maybe it’s because too many choices imply too many information to process and in our desire to make the best choice, we get overwhelmed.
I believe it’s easier to choose between two things because we can realize what we like and what we don’t like regarding those two. However, when we have 10 choices, we take our time and not because we want to, but because we need to. This is a problem when we need to shop something meaningful. If it’s about a bag of candies, it might not be that big of a deal. But when it’s about buying a car, God help us all (there is a book called The Paradox of Choice – Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz where he explains the fact that having multiple options is affecting our wellbeing because we think about the missing opportunities and other implications as well)!
Of course, this differs from person to another. Maybe not all of us will suffer if there are 7 different types of soda, but maybe some of us will suffer when we have to choose which clothes to wear before going to the shop. Having multiple choices gives us freedom, but that freedom is hurtful because it doesn’t come with the required info so we can make a quick choice.
How hard it is for you to make a choice when you have multiple similar options?