To the Point

(Contributed by Mitch Greene)

Picture Choices.

Isn’t it great to often have so many choices – restaurants, movies, Netflix, vacations, books, and more?

Take ice cream, for example. Have you ever gone to an ice cream shop with five flavor options or fewer or maybe you’ve been to ones with thirty flavors or more? I used to go to an ice cream place with a few of my friends, and this shop had about 50 flavors! We all would want to try something new, and by the time all four of us would decide, we would have wasted an eternity agonizing over our options. Because we had more options than we needed, we inadvertently turned our ice cream day into an ice cream exam. This is what Barry Schwartz calls, “The Paradox of Choice”.

When you ask someone a question that is open-ended you might get a roundabout answer, an excuse or, worst of all, the person you’re asking finds a way to dodge the question entirely. The problem with these questions is the same as the problem with the ice cream shop: too many possible answers. I’ll give you an example that I’ve experienced on many occasions. “Where would you like to go out to eat?” And this is what I get back:

“Where do you want to go to eat?”

Side note, this is the worst.

When you ask a question that has many options, you are highly likely to see some indecisiveness, but there is still hope. You can actually take a little control of the situation. You can have a slight say in how they will respond. Instead of giving them any option for a response, narrow it down to three options. That’s it. This puts you in control of how the other person answers. If I were to reword my question from before, it would go something like this: “Hey, let’s go out for dinner. How about Red Robin or Applebee’s or do neither of those options works for you?” The magic of this method is that if the person chooses option C, then I can simply start over with three more options. The key is to never leave it open. As my dad says, “Close the door”.

Questions are easier to answer as multiple choice. Remember back in school when a test was looming?  Did you want it to be multiple-choice, open-ended or the dreaded essay?  Exactly.

So – The Paradox of Choice - it’s been said that eliminating or significantly reducing choices can greatly reduce stress, anxiety and busyness in our lives.

And all of us could use a little of that!