WEBVTT - Have a default choice

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to make default decisions so you can

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<v Speaker 1>quickly navigate the problem of having too many choices. I

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<v Speaker 1>know that having too many choices sounds like the definition

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<v Speaker 1>of a first world problem. There are plenty of people

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<v Speaker 1>out there whose lives are constrained by restrictions they didn't choose,

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<v Speaker 1>and who struggle to meet their basic needs. But I'm

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<v Speaker 1>guessing this is not the situation facing many listeners of

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<v Speaker 1>this podcast. We often face the opposite problem. How do

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<v Speaker 1>we navigate the myriad choices we encounter daily without feeling

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<v Speaker 1>stressed or regretful about our decisions? Well, choice seems like

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<v Speaker 1>a good thing, too much of it can take a toll.

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<v Speaker 1>In his book The Paradox of Choice, psychologist Barry Schwartz

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<v Speaker 1>explains that people can feel an at the prospect of

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<v Speaker 1>making a choice and overwhelmed by all the options. Then

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<v Speaker 1>we can feel regretful of decisions as we recall the

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<v Speaker 1>options given up. This is all made worse because we

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<v Speaker 1>feel responsible for the outcome, having made the choice ourselves.

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<v Speaker 1>So what are we to do? Schwartz recommends choosing when

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<v Speaker 1>to choose, as he puts it, rather than investing time

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<v Speaker 1>and energy in every decision we face, figure out which

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<v Speaker 1>ones weren't thoughtful deliberations. For everything else, go with a

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<v Speaker 1>default option. And maybe this sounds challenging, but it turns

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<v Speaker 1>out that if you are an upstanding citizen, you've probably

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<v Speaker 1>already got default rules for a lot of things. Schwartz

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<v Speaker 1>gives the example of wearing a seatbelt or not cheating

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<v Speaker 1>on your partner. These are in fact choices, but there

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<v Speaker 1>are good enough reasons not to seriously entertain the alternative

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<v Speaker 1>that most of us don't spend a whole lot of

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<v Speaker 1>time thinking about it. It turns out you can also

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<v Speaker 1>make default decisions on many other things, even if the

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<v Speaker 1>consequences aren't so dire, and lots of people have heard

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<v Speaker 1>about the example of President Obama wearing only gray or

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<v Speaker 1>blue suits. By eliminating insignificant choices, he could focus on

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<v Speaker 1>more important things. If the situation called for it, he'd

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<v Speaker 1>wear something else, but there had to be a good reason. Likewise,

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<v Speaker 1>maybe you can set meal time defaults. Turkey, sausage and

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<v Speaker 1>fruit for breakfast, a green vegetable and every lunch and

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<v Speaker 1>dinner no alcohol during the week. It's also a good

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<v Speaker 1>idea to have a good two restaurant or two for

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<v Speaker 1>work lunches and dinners. When someone suggests meeting for a meal,

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<v Speaker 1>you know exactly where to take the person and you

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<v Speaker 1>know exactly what to order. Of course, if there's a

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<v Speaker 1>reason to switch from the default, you can. If you're

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<v Speaker 1>entertaining a vegetarian client, for instance, best to go to

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<v Speaker 1>a restaurant with more than one veggie option. But having

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<v Speaker 1>a default means you can focus on preparing for the

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<v Speaker 1>meeting rather than choosing a restaurant, and you can focus

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<v Speaker 1>on the meal time conversation rather than the menu. Like

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<v Speaker 1>President Obama, you could also choose defaults for getting dressed.

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<v Speaker 1>If you love fashion, that's wonderful. But for those of

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<v Speaker 1>us who just want to look put together and socially appropriate,

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<v Speaker 1>figure out what works and go with that. For a

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<v Speaker 1>normal business entire workplace, for example, your default outfit might

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<v Speaker 1>be a dress shirt, black pants, and black dress shoes.

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<v Speaker 1>Your weekend daytime default might be a sweater, jeans, and

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<v Speaker 1>slip on loafers or flats. You might only buy black

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<v Speaker 1>leggings or running shorts so that you don't have to

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<v Speaker 1>think about whether the color of your bottom half looks

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<v Speaker 1>ridiculous with your exercise. Top defaults can help with your

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<v Speaker 1>schedule too. If Friday night is always date night, you

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<v Speaker 1>can have a babysitter who is scheduled every week, rather

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<v Speaker 1>than having to find a babysitter each time you decide

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<v Speaker 1>to go out. Indeed, you can have to faults for

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<v Speaker 1>just about anything. I love this example from before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>listener Jennifer. I work on a college campus with lots

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<v Speaker 1>of parking lots. She writes, over the years, I have

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<v Speaker 1>needlessly spent time walking around searching for my car at

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<v Speaker 1>the end of the day. Last year, I decided to

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<v Speaker 1>park in the same parking lot each and every day.

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<v Speaker 1>This way, I don't forget where my car is parked,

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<v Speaker 1>and I don't have to put a reminder in my

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<v Speaker 1>phone or think of another way to remember where my

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<v Speaker 1>car is that day. At the end of the day,

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<v Speaker 1>I walk from wherever I am on campus to my

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<v Speaker 1>car in my parking lot. It has taken one decision

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<v Speaker 1>out of my list of daily decisions and has limited

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<v Speaker 1>my aimless walking all over campus to find my car.

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<v Speaker 1>What default decisions have you made? Are there areas of

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<v Speaker 1>your life you might be able to streamline with a

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<v Speaker 1>default decision, I'd love to hear about it. You can

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<v Speaker 1>reach me at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>In the meantime, this is ura. Thanks for listening and

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<v Speaker 1>here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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<v Speaker 1>your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod

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<v Speaker 1>that's B the number four, then breakfast p o D.

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<v Speaker 1>You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>podcast at i heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

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<v Speaker 1>should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts

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