Is the quest for the best making us miserable? Some people will settle for nothing but the best. But when we have so much to choose from, there is a price to be paid for pickiness.
Rankings are ruining our lives says writer
Is the quest for the best making us miserable? Some people will settle for nothing but the best. But when we have so much to choose from, there is a price to be paid for pickiness.
It is your birthday and you are going out for a meal. It is up to you to choose the restaurant. How do you make your decision? Do you just pick any old place? Or do you pull out a spreadsheet and rank all your possible choices?
If you picked the second option, you are not alone. It is thought that around 10% of the population are "maximisers", who make their choices by ranking all the options available to them.¹
But now one writer has a warning for you. Rachel Connolly thinks the urge to rank everything is making you unhappy.
Humans have always loved ranking things. As far back as 350 BC, AristotleA student of Plato, tutor to Alexander the Great and the father of political philosophy. imposed a ranking on nature, with mammals at the top and plants at the bottom.
Even when we adopted a more scientific understanding of nature in the 19th Century, we could not resist the urge to rank it. Biologists claimed that the evolutionary process had advanced from "lower" forms of life to "higher" ones, with humans at the top.
But this urge to rank things did not do us any favours. It justified terrible cruelty to animals on grounds that they were "lower" forms of life.
So it is no wonder some think our modern rankings also have a sinisterThreatening, or suggesting that something frightening or disturbing will happen. side.
The problem, Rachel Connolly points out, is that the search for the very best can be self-defeating. It means we are never certain we have really chosen the best course of action. We cannot just enjoy what we are doing.
In the past, when we did not have many choices available to us, this was not such a problem. But today, we are constantly bombarded with choices. The fear that we are not making the "best" choice can become overwhelming.
She thinks it is better to be a "satisficer": someone who will gladly settle for anything good.
<h5 class="wp-block-heading eplus-wrapper" id="question"><strong>Is the quest for the best making us miserable?</strong></h5>
Yes: Obsessing over whether or not something is the best is a surefire way to unhappiness. Maximisers need to learn to relax and go with the flow a little more often.
No: Maximisers often have a good time putting together spreadsheets and deciding which options are better than the rest. They should be happy with their unique personalities.
Or... Maximisers and satisficers are good for each other. The maximisers make the choices and the satisficers help them enjoy themselves. We should embrace a world where some of us overthink and some underthink.
Aristotle - A student of Plato, tutor to Alexander the Great and the father of political philosophy.
Sinister - Threatening, or suggesting that something frightening or disturbing will happen.
Rankings are ruining our lives says writer

Glossary
Aristotle - A student of Plato, tutor to Alexander the Great and the father of political philosophy.
Sinister - Threatening, or suggesting that something frightening or disturbing will happen.