Coaching practices for Once I've Chosen I Tally Up the Best Bits of Every Option I Passed on and Hold Them All Against What I Picked So My Choice Always Looks Like It's Missing Something and I Can Never Just Enjoy it
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Once I've Chosen I Tally Up the Best Bits of Every Option I Passed on and Hold Them All Against What I Picked So My Choice Always Looks Like It's Missing Something and I Can Never Just Enjoy it, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- Once I’ve chosen, I tally up the best bits of every option I passed on and hold them all against what I picked
- I can never feel done deciding
- I pile up so many options trying to be thorough that I drown in them
- I made my choice and it’s honestly fine, but my mind won’t stop circling back to the one that got away and how it might’ve been better
- I’ll find something that genuinely fits everything I need, and instead of taking it I keep looking
Practices that may help
- Reduce opportunity-cost thinking
Stop calculating what every rejected option "costs" you — it amplifies regret for no gain.
Choice Overload, Made Practical - Adopt satisficing instead of maximizing
Set a "good enough" threshold before you search, then stop when you hit it.
Choice Overload, Made Practical - Limit the option set deliberately
Cap how many alternatives you’ll consider before you start.
Satisficing vs. Maximizing: When “Good Enough” Wins - Practice gratitude for what you chose
Counter maximizer regret by actively appreciating the option you took.
Satisficing vs. Maximizing: When “Good Enough” Wins - Set a “good enough” bar before you search
Decide your criteria first, then take the first option that clears them.
Satisficing vs. Maximizing: When “Good Enough” Wins - Satisfice instead of maximize
Choose the option that meets your criteria rather than searching for the theoretically best one.
The Mindset of Enough: Contentment Without Complacency - Treat your decision as more final than it is
Mentally close off the "undo" option to stop rumination and increase satisfaction.
Choice Overload, Made Practical - Commit and stop re-evaluating
Once you’ve chosen, close the door instead of reopening the comparison.
Satisficing vs. Maximizing: When “Good Enough” Wins - Use "take the best": choose on your single most informative cue
When choosing between options, identify the most diagnostic cue and use it — stop searching for more.
Simple Heuristics: Gerd Gigerenzer’s Case for Fast and Frugal Thinking - Elicit your real standards before you look
Write down what a good outcome actually requires before options are visible.
Choice Overload, Made Practical
Related concerns
- When Choice Overload Satisficing Over Maximizing
Set a "good enough" threshold before you search, then stop when you hit it.
Adopt satisficing instead of maximizing
- Choice Within Limits
Set a "good enough" threshold before you search, then stop when you hit it.
- When Mindset Of Enough Satisfice Not Maximize
Choose the option that meets your criteria rather than searching for the theoretically best one.
Satisfice instead of maximize
- Overthinking Preferences
Over-explaining reasons for a preference can actually detgrade the quality of affective predictions.
For many decisions, going with your gut outperforms lengthy analysis
- Paradox Of Choice Solution
When the number of options exceeds a cognitive threshold, people become less likely to choose, less satisfied with what they chose, and more prone to regret — a phenomenon Barry Schwartz calls the "paradox of choice." Reducing options strategically and adopting a "good enough" standard are the most evidence-supported remedies.
- Satisficing Strategy
Satisficing — a term coined by Herbert Simon — means choosing the first option that meets your criteria, while maximizing means searching for the best possible option. Research by Barry Schwartz and colleagues found that people who habitually maximize tend to make objectively slightly better choices yet report lower satisfaction, more regret, and worse well-being — so for most everyday decisions, "good enough" wins.
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