Good enough increases happiness.

“Satisficers” (those who settle for “good enough”) are happier. “Maximizers” (people who explore every option to make the best decision) end up doing better — but feeling worse.

Students who were maximizers in trying to get the best job after graduation ended up better off — they got salaries that were 20% higher. But they ended up more unhappy with their jobs than satisficers did.

aw shucks!  i am totally a maximizer.

Apparently you will be happier if you don't maximize everything. Pick your battles.

you mean, choose your battles.  :)

You're learning. :)

always!

1) Keep an “attitude of gratitude”

There’s tons of research on the power of gratitude to make us happier.

We have a natural tendency to see the negative. But by making an effort to note the good things that happen in life we can fight the regret that so many choices often creates. 

2) Be a satisficer — with maximizer friends

In some areas, being a “maximizer” and not settling for less can certainly be valuable. But most decisions are in trivial areas, and the downside of choosing wrong isn’t worth feeling overwhelmed and making yourself unhappy.

So be a “satisficer” and choose the “pretty good” option quickly. I can already hear some people complaining: “But then I’ll miss out! I won’t get the best.” But there’s a way to have both.

Be a satisficer and rely on your maximizer friends to choose for you.

3) Be a chooser, not a picker

Picking from 100 options is a nightmare. So don’t look at all the options. First, ask what’s important to you. Then choose the first one you see that has all those elements.

What does the research say makes us happier than anything else? Strong relationships.

But relationships constrain us. You don’t move to another city because your spouse doesn’t want to go there. You don’t take that fancy job because the hours would mean you wouldn’t have time to see your friends or your kids.

Barry says what we often fail to realize is that those constraints are welcome. They make decisions easier. They make life simpler. They make it “not your fault.” And so they make us happier.

(To learn a shortcut to bonding with a romantic partner on a deeper level, click here.)

We need to satisfice more and maximize less. So what’s one sentence you can keep in mind to simplify your life and remind you of how to find happiness in a world of overwhelming choice?

Good enough is almost always good enough.

my mom says, "better is the enemy of good." and it drives me nuts, but it looks like she might have eric barker agreeing with her.  dammit!

Voltaire, Business Author Jim Collins, and Steve Jobs' protege Jony Ive all agree with you.

Barry Schwartz TED Talk on The Paradox of Choice has been watched 7 million times.

they seem to contradict one another, don't they?

good is the enemy of great.

better is the enemy of good.

the first tells you to strive harder, the second tells you to say good enough and move on.

Well, the TED Talk is about good enough being good enough.

Voltaire, the Business Author, and Apple are all about being perfectionist.

voltaire is the perfectionist?  then i don't understand "better is the enemy of good."

maybe they are all telling us to strive harder, the words just sound out of order to me.  my mom was trying to tell me NOT to be a perfectionist; that "better is the enemy of good" and i ought to stop when it's good enough.

Actually I don't know the context of the Voltaire quote but you're right that he's likely making fun of perfectionists. 

Your mom sounds like a consummate satisficer.

i guess so!  i must admit, it has served her well.

If I read Eric Barker's article correctly, satisficing always serves the satisficer well.