On one of those lazy afternoons, on one of those lazy weekends, my husband was able to stumble upon a worthwhile website that really speaks of great ideas. (for that which I would be eternally grateful to him :))
The website: www.ted.com.
As website has illustrated, TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. It has invited celebrated guest speakers from CEO's , politicians, entertainers, tech experts to psychologists (to name a few, Bill Gates, Al Gore, Bono of U2, Eve Ensler and the list goes on). They give talks that convey ideas that are invaluable and seeks to help us realize our full potential and commitment to improving not only our own lives but to help others improve theirs as well. Normally, symposiums, seminars, conventions,and all the same sorts, though they mean well in sharing informations and ideas, would somehow inadvertently draw me to the obliviousness of sleep.(Sorry, my bad) But these talks from TED, they were limited to 18 minutes of discussion. Somehow you are assured that each word they divulge is essential and note worthy to the viewpoint they want to get across to their audience.(To this, I am so ever delighted and always at the edge of my seat.Hahahaha... )My time is important after all. I have no time to check my dictionary to search for the meaning of those prolific words nor to understand those hard to crack idioms or metaphors. They are simple, direct to the point, entertaining if I may add, and most importantly, significant to us.
On one of those talks that recently have made impact on me was the one given by Barry Schwartz. I tried to do a small research on him and indeed, (as wikipedia had narrowed it down) an American psychologist and professor at Swarthmore college, contributes editorials at New York times and author of 6 books. One of which, (if I may presume as the most controversial) is "The Paradox of Choice, Why more is less".(Only my opinion, I haven't read all of them.)
Let me give you (hopefully) a quick walk through on Barry Schwartz stand on this...
According to him, we live in a world filled with choices. In theory, supposedly, having all these choices should make our lives less complicated and will help us get through our daily routines with ease and comfort. Contradictory to this notion however,decision making then becomes a stressful environment for us and may even cause clinical depression (the not so clinical term: miserable). Too many option causes paralysis...(analysis paralysis?) Even though that decision has been carefully thought of and even though we know it was the right decision or a good choice,we fail to recognize this. Why?
1.REGRET AND ANTICIPATED REGRET - Despite having made a sound decision, we can't help but think that with the other million options (if I am not exaggerating), one of which could have been the one. The one option that well suited us.
2.OPPORTUNITY COSTS - If I understand this right, the cost of choosing one between so many options make us feel that we will deprive ourselves of other great opportunities.
3.ESCALATION OF EXPECTATIONS - With the drive of competition and making everything accessible to us, from information to digital gadgets, we have raised our expectations of the world and even to ourselves. Somehow, we couldn't simply settle with anything less. With all the datum in our hands, we should arrive at what seemingly is a well calculated decision. As Barry said "There seemed to be no excuse for failure!"
4.SELF-BLAME - We burden ourselves with the impression that if we make a wrong decision, there's no one else to blame but ourselves.;(
His argument(which has raised a lot of eyebrows)is that the options given to people (with marketing strategies ek ek) should be narrowed down to a few simple ones. As he had stated, everybody needs a fishbowl.Limitations. A finite to the infinite. Not everybody is ready to embrace this principle. But then again, from his point of view, not everyone is ready or can handle too many choices in their hands. It makes perfect sense but even though the idea sounds simple,it is not.
His talk only validates that persons with low self esteem cannot make a reasonable decision and resort to quick fix solutions like fewer options. It is more conscientious though. But really, I am hoping more of a character building and moral formation than just giving a person fewer options. After all, a person who is focused and determined knows exactly what he/she wants. A person should not be rattled when faced with more choices or should I say more challenges.
In truth, there is really no wrong or right decision.One should not be afraid to make a decision. There is no better option. Only decisions that make us happy or choices that makes us wiser in the end.
(Come to think of it, I narrowed down decision making to 2...hahaha...I think I understand what he meant by fewer options then...hehehehe)Gulo!!
