How to be grateful in the midst of unparalleled choice
When was the last time you visited the toothpaste aisle - tarter, sensitive, toxic, fluoride, plaque, and more. Did you leave feeling satisfied that you’ve chosen the right toothpaste?
Unless you’re a dental professional, you’ve got a tough choice. More importantly, research suggests you’re probably like most people and are less satisfied with your purchase the more choice you have.
A 20 year old ground-breaking study involved two groups of people who stopped by a jam display in an upscale grocery store - one group saw a display with 24 varieties of jam and the other group were given the choice of only 6 varieties. Both groups tasted samples and were given a coupon to encourage them to buy. While there was more interest in the large display, people were 10 times more like to make a purchase from the smaller display.
This and other research has found that too much choice leads to decision paralysis and that when a purchase is made, it is accompanied by greater dissatisfaction with the purchase. It seems that people ruminate over everything left back at the store - they focus on what they don’t have versus what they have.
In 2020, you are exposed to massive amounts of choice. Whether you’re shopping for a vacation, a hot drink, jeans or groceries you have countless places to shop and each “location” offers up a multitude of options for you. For example, I learned from a colleague and retail marketing expert, Peter Chapman (learn more about his work here), that a typical grocery store carries more than 35,000 unique items and over the course of a year, the average family purchases only about 250 of these items from the store.
250—yikes!
That’s a lot of stuff left behind to ruminate over—and that’s just at the grocery store. So what can you do to be happy and satisfied while mired in the luxury of choice?
You got it—be grateful. Gratitude is the antidote to choice. Here’s how.
Be intentional in giving thanks for everything you choose. Think of the last item or service you purchased.
What do you love about it?
How many people were involved in getting it to you—imagine their fingerprints all over it.
What skills and talents brought it into existence?
How will it help you or serve you in your life?
How does it connect with you or your identity as a person?
What joy does it bring to you?
Obviously, you can ask these questions of anything you possess (product or service) or choose (job, relationship, social affiliation, etc) and the answers will either reignite a greater sense of appreciate or signal it’s time to say farewell and gratefully send it on its way.
