The following is from the interesting book The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz.
1. Choose When to Choose
- remember it is the subjective results that count: even if you made the best decision, the process of choice could make you feel you made the wrong decision.
Try to review recent decisions and:
- itemize the process and work that went into making those decisions
- remind yourself how it felt to do that work
- ask yourself how much your final decision benefited from that work.
Try to make rules for decision-making: only consider two options etc.
2. Be a Chooser, Not a Picker
- Shorten or eliminate deliberations about decisions that are unimportant to you.
- Use some of the time you have freed up to ask yourself what you really want in the areas of your life where decisions matter
- Start thinking about creating options where there is none that meets your needs.
3. Satisfice More and Maximize Less
- Learn to accept good enough
- Cultivate Satisficing
Think about where you settle comfortably, for good enough and think about how you choose there and apply that strategy broadly.
4. Think About the Opportunity Costs of Opportunity Costs
- Unless you're truly dissatisfied, strick with what you always buy.
- Don't be tempted by "new and improved"
- Don't scratch unless there is an itch
- And don't worry that if you do this, you will miss out on all the new things the world has to offer.
5. Make Your Decisions Nonreversible
6. Practice an "Attitude of Gratitude"
Learn to reflect on how much better things are compared to how much worse they could be.
7. Regret Less
- Adopt the standards of a satisficer
- Reduce the number of options you consider
- Practicing gratitude for what is good in a decision rather than focusing on dissapointment of what is bad.
8. Anticipate Adaptation
Be prepared:
- the thing you just bought will not give you the same thrill two months later
- spend less time looking to bring price of choosing down
- focus on how good things are
9. Control Expectations
Lower expectations:
- reduce options
- be a satisficer
- allow for serendipity
10. Curtail Social Comparison
Remember that "He who dies with the most toys win" is a bumper sticker, not wisdom.
11. Learn to Love Constraints