Decisions:
Most adults make 35,000+ decisions per day. If we sleep a little more than eight hours per night, then we make approximately 2,200 choices per every waking hour (37 decisions per minute).
Toys:
The average American child owns 117 different toys and 70% of kids play with 15 toys or fewer (100+ untouched toys). The average cost of a child’s toy is $14, meaning most American children have about $1,400 worth of toys that never get touched. If your family has 3 kids, then you can estimate to have $4,200 worth of unused toys in your home.
Menus:
Approximately 60% of restaurants shut down within their first year and nearly 80% before their fifth anniversary. These restaurants love to blame their failure on poor location or undercapitalization – but I think their menus deserve more criticism. Most successful restaurants have 50 – 75 menu options and most failing restaurants have menus with 125 – 150 options.
Choice Overload Considerations:
- Energy: Each decision depletes our available cognitive energy.
- Paralysis: Difficult to decide, so no decision is made.
- Delay: Evaluating several options takes too long.
- Regret: Should have chosen something different, something better.
- Satisfaction: Opportunity cost often yields disappointment.
- Quality: Decision quality decreases at the end of the day.
- Ungrateful: Discontentment is created by too many options.
Question: In what ways can you simplify your life so you don’t need to make as many decisions?
Meditate on How This Quote Applies to You: “A happy man marries the girl he loves, but a happier man loves the girl he marries.” -African Proverb