Choice and Paralysis

By Todd Henry

A few years ago psychologist Barry Schwartz released The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less. The central argument of the book is that we as consumers are not better-off as a result of infinite choice but that choice does, in fact, force us to self-limit and to become “paralyzed” in the moment of decision. (Schwartz also gave a talk at the TED conference espousing his arguments. You can read more about the book here.)

I find that this dynamic often plays out in my life and creating as well. When I am faced with limitless possibilities about how to approach a project, I often find that I am unable (or unwilling) to engage. It’s almost like I’m afraid to take the first steps for fear of eliminating other equally valid or better solutions. (For example, when I’ve not written a blog post in a while I stew over what to write and often the perceived possibility of writing something ineffective or inappropriate invokes a kind of “paralysis”. The longer I wait, the more difficult it is to engage.)

The only thing that seems to be effective in tackling this paralysis is (1) a disciplined regimen of unnecessary creating, (2) disciplined and regular “blue sky” idea time and (3) extremely clear objectives for the project. When I have too many options I often find myself drifting and ineffective. This is especially the case for those of us who have some discretion about how we spend our day-to-day time. (Are the freelancers connecting yet?) Every project needs an authority to limit choice, even if it is an authority that we invent and rails that we self-impose.

I seem to see this dynamic playing out a lot in the lives of other artists as well, and I’m curious…have you experienced the paralysis of choice and if so, how have you dealt with it?

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About Todd Henry

Todd is the founder of Accidental Creative, the author of The Accidental Creative: How To Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice, and an in-demand speaker and consultant for creative teams. Connect with him on Twitter or Facebook.

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Comments

  • http://www.johndcook.com/blog John

    I recently heard a talk by David Heinemeier Hansson where he said that people like having choices a lot more than they like having to make choices. While most software development tools are giving programmers more and more choices with every release, Ruby on Rails gives you fewer choices. And it has been spreading like wildfire. If you accept the decisions that Rails makes for you by default, you can get going on a new project very quickly. As the name suggests, “rails” limit your options, but they make it easier to move forward.

  • Christine

    I experience this paralysis of choice daily!  It happens every time I pick up an instrument and play just to play – to make something up.  Suddenly the choices are limitless and the biggest challenge is to just settle on one idea at a time.  It also happens when I sit down to practice something. If I didn’t limit myself to certain positions on the guitar, certain keys, certain scales, I would be way too overwhelmed with possibilities to even start.  
    I took the suggestion in an earlier podcast about having “untouchables” and it’s really working for me.  As long as I trust myself to evaluate these activities in a few months (meaning I don’t have to worry about immediate results) my mind can let go of all the other possibilities for a while.
     

  • http://blog.kurtsettles.org Kurt Settles

    Todd,
    Your post comes at a time when I’m experiencing that kind of paralysis. (Were you reading my mind?)
    I’m “in-between” projects, doing a lot of administrative stuff, planning for some travel, but not really creating much and struggling with maintaining a disciplined mindset. I have the good fortune and the curse of having the ability to set my own agenda each day, for the most part. As a former project manager, I have some difficulty letting myself be okay with “downtime”, but I really should be. Creativity doesn’t turn on and off.
    When I’m in this “mode” I generally need to shut off distractions (like reading blogs, unless they’re subject-matter-focused) and put paper, or Freemind, in front of me and just burn through all the possibilities. Then I “kill-off” any that don’t have an immediate benefit, or won’t jumpstart me into a creative mode. Letting the flotsam and jetsam pass takes a bit to master, but the end result is guaranteed to be much higher quality and clarity.
    I was watching Jim Coudal’s Theory of Creative Relativity video last night and he touches on this very subject. Thanks again for the timely post.

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