By Brad Beckstrom
In modern life, we often face a paradox of choice. You’d think this would be fantastic. Our ancestors and those living in third world poverty would marvel at the amount of choices we have for everything, from snack foods to clothing to luxury automobiles. A cornucopia of choices delivered at a click of a mouse or a walk down the aisle of any big-box store.
From the moment you wake up in the morning, you’re bombarded with small choices, that when added up can exhaust you by the end of the day. This is called decision fatigue and we can reduce it through the science of simplicity.
For example, let’s look at one of the first decisions we make each day. What to wear? A quick count of the number of items in my closet including shirts, pants, shoes, and belts. Combined there’s about 140 items. Without getting into combinations and permutation formulas, I have well over 1.5 million possible combinations of shirts, shoes, pants, and belts. Let’s see how I stack up against some smart guys who got this right. Remember a lower number is better. [Read more…] about Decision fatigue. How too many daily choices can wear you down.