Time to quit being a maximizer

Reading "Risk Savvy: How to make good decisions." I would not have guessed that this book would hit an aspect of my personality on the head and reveal it to me but it did.

"Maximizing can be a direct route toward unhappiness: One simply wants too much. Smartphone apps and comparison shopping websites that enable people to fin the cheapest price appear to reinforce the desire for the very best deal or the perfect product.

The alternative is satisfying: to go for a product that is good enough, not the best. After all, in an uncertain world, there is no way to find the best. Even if you got it by accident, you would not know and might still look for something better.

Studies indicate that people who rely on aspiration rules tend to be more optimistic and have higher self-esteem than maximizers. The later excel in perfectionism, depression, and self-blame.

Learning to live with a good-enough choice and the possibility that there is something better out there is necessary in an uncertain world."

-Risk Savvy: How to make good decisions p. 139 and 141


Another part talked about maximizers flipping through all the TV channels several time before deciding on the "best" thing to watch. Guilty again!

Application for me
1. No smartphone comparison apps
2. Compare with just one other site and then buy the product. Stop spending a lot of time (hours) comparing and trying to find the "best" deal. I have lied to myself that this is to be a "good steward" but the unhappiness I have found in being a maximizer reveals that this belief is flawed.
3. Be okay that there could be something better out there- this world is uncertain.
4. Realize that my maximizer tendency will lead me to greater and greater unhappiness unless I choose a different course.