The Optionality Fallacy
Instinctively, people love to codify things, and make them numerical, and turn them into optimization problems with a single right answer. Because the second you acknowledge ambiguity, you now have to exercise choice. If you can pretend there’s no ambiguity, then you haven’t made a decision, you can’t be blamed, you can’t be held responsible. And w... See more
Adam Grant • Are We Too Impatient to Be Intelligent?
Henri Bergson tunnelled to the heart of Kafka’s problem in his book Time and Free Will. We invariably prefer indecision over committing ourselves to a single path, Bergson wrote, because ‘the future, which we dispose of to our liking, appears to us at the same time under a multitude of forms, equally attractive and equally possible’.10 In other wor
... See moreOliver Burkeman • Four Thousand Weeks
like a vast river delta through which you could follow any one of an immense variety of streams. But only one. That’s why indecision can feel so oddly comfortable: it’s a form of postponement, a temporary avoidance of the painful sacrifices involved.
Oliver Burkeman • Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts
I meet a lot of 30-year-olds who are trying to pursue many different directions at once, but not making progress in any, right? They get frustrated that the world wants them to pick one thing, because they want to do them all: ‘Why do I have to choose? I don’t know what to choose!’ But the problem is, if you’re thinking short-term, then [you act as
... See moreFerriss, Timothy • Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers
choices means losing possibilities. And having so many choices increases the chance of regret.