Should you keep your options open?

Should you keep your options open?

it's clearly the case that killing all other choices increases our satisfaction with the choice that we've made. Whereas, leaving options open greatly diminishes our sense of satisfaction - AH

They did a study. People chose a painting they liked. Half the group were told they can exchange it with another painting later, and the other group wasn't allowed to change. In the follow-up, the second group turned out to be much happier.

Same with other choices like choosing your life partner, college major, or job. When we keep our options open, we keep wondering how the other side will look like. We're in a constant mode of evaluative decision-making.

But, if you're stuck with a final decision, you learn to cherish it. You'll be happier.

Note, this does not mean you shouldn't have options. It means that after you commit, don't allow yourself to go back and change it.

Take a second to find a decision you're still not sure what to do with. And consider this: If you're not constantly wondering how life would be on the other side, how much happier would you be?

A lot happier. So just stop reconsidering yourself. The "action" part of this is to limit your thinking. Over the weekend, combat decisions you're still unsure of. Even better, commit for a week.

Something like, "okay, for this week, I'm going to focus on X and forget all the other stuff. It's just for a week. Next week, I can go back and change my decision". I tried this. You will be surprised at how effective it is - happiness and clarity of mind.

This is from the Happiness episode and the study was run by Dan Gilbert (famous psychologist).

P.S. Tomorrow I will send a bullet point review of this week's tools (I promise). Wait now I can't go back and change my mind! Guess I'll just have to live with it :).