December 2024
It seems Santa needs a new sleigh. My ’06 Acura has been a faithful friend. But unfortunately, it’s aging faster than IU’s championship banners. 2024 has been a high maintenance year for my old buddy: timing belt, struts, and other odd, vaguely diagnosed gurgles. His Kelley Blue Book is the laughing emoji. And I’m expecting a Christmas card from Myers Service Station in Huntertown. Thankfully, owner Rod, is a good guy who does honest work for a fair price. Always trust someone who uses Post-it notes.
Now I’m being shoved into the car market. I can empathize with fresh divorcees setting up a Silver Singles or Plenty of Fish profile. Advance, Technology or Sports package? Unfortunately, 6-disc CD changers have gone the way of my hairline. Steely Dan is now homeless. With countless models and features available, it becomes exhausting. Choice no longer liberates but debilitates.
I have 149 TV channels but only watch Golf, Cooking and Weather. The Home and Garden package is an extra $8 so hard decisions had to be made; and Lucy wasn’t about to compromise her Fancy Feast. Kroger has 35 Barbecue sauces and I blankly stare into the ice cream freezer. And don’t get me started on jeans. I figured shopping on-line would limit the agony until I tried to squeeze into the Mick Jagger 2-inch zipper cut. Dust off the Toughskins.
Our lives are just a cumulative summary of small & large daily choices. How well do we evaluate and analyze information to make those decisions? Much of the time we use Heuristics (mental shortcuts) and anecdotal reasoning. Every Wednesday I update my complex TMI[i] model, courtesy of my mom, Molly. Delicious tuna salad aside, I think she’s relying on William Devane[ii] a bit much: not sure voting & buying gold is a comprehensive investment strategy. Wait til I tell her he’s a Democrat.
Having more choices is synonymous with freedom and even affluency. But it also requires more research & effort. It also means mistakes become more likely. Which in turns makes the psychological effects of any mistakes more painful.[iii] Consider 401k/retirement plan investment options – studies show presented with more than 10-15 choices, participants select 1 default fund or a vanilla, stable value money market. Information overload can lead to complacency. According to Vanguard, 62% of 401k participants default to one choice. And 77% use 3 or less.
The majority of us want more control over the details of our lives but also want simplicity – more on that in a bit. But I only say majority – there are some decision perfectionists among us. Let’s call this the Choosers vs the Pickers.
Choosers only accept the best – they do the research and maximize their choice. They’ll rattle off the safety standards of a Volvo vs a Range Rover. Only the finest cashmere will do. Why have cod when you can have Chilean Seabass? But chasing the holy grail can easily lead to dissatisfaction, regret and even misery – the curse of high expectations. They tend to make the largest investment in their decisions and agonize about the trade-offs.
Pickers, on the other hand, settle for something good enough and don’t get too bogged down on better/best alternatives. While they want satisfaction and have high standards, they also allow themselves to enjoy the experience of their choice. A gently used Acura and a greasy cheeseburger should hit the spot. Is Roof Maxx[iv] legit? Who needs European travel when Laotto is a cultural hotbed.
But there is an area of life where the bulk of us do crave simplicity: medical and healthcare. Research has shown patients mostly prefer to have others make treatment decisions for them. The fairer sex especially bears the burden – becoming guardians of not only their own health but us helpless husbands as well. And consider that 65% of people who didn’t have cancer said that if they got it, they would prefer to choose their treatment. But conversely, of those who actually had cancer, 88% said they would prefer not to choose.[v] And good luck trying to even decipher medical coverage.
The food we eat, the clothes we wear, cars we drive, houses we inhabit, hobbies we pursue, who we socialize with and who we marry all have an expressive function. Becomes a testament to our self-determination & autonomy; even the hedonic treadmill - which leads to social comparison. Some are easy-going while some are fussier. I suspect I married a Fussy – and she just made an unauthorized decision to get a new, in-vogue, bobbed hairdo. The Rachel[vi] (not Maddow) must be making a comeback.
Hopefully a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Future will provide some car clarity. At the risk of suffering from regret aversion, I’ll probably keep tire kicking, skimming Motortrend and budgeting a few 2025 visits to Rod. But I’m grateful to have choices and perhaps a softy for a firm, oily handshake. Merry Christmas.
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[i] The Molly Index
[iii] Barry Schwartz, “The Paradox of Choice”, 2016: p 77-79.
[v] Ibid p 120.
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