Maximizer's vs. Satisficer's

The concept of a Maximizer vs. a Satisficer is something I came across recently via Brian Johnson and Optimize. It’s from psychologist Barry Schwartz in this book “The Paradox of Choice— Why More is Less.”

According to Schwartz:

“The fact that some choice is good doesn’t necessarily mean that more choice is better. As I will demonstrate, there is a cost to having an overload of choice. As a culture, we are enamored of freedom, self-determination, and variety, and we are reluctant to give up any of our options. But clinging tenaciously to all the choices available to us contributes to bad decisions, to anxiety, stress, and dissatisfaction—even to clinical depression.”

The big idea is that the amount of choice we have is a negative thing and leads to indecision and sometimes even suffering and according to Schwartz we “would be better off if we embraced voluntary constraints on our freedom of choice, instead of rebelling against them.”

Further, from Schwartz, “if you seek and accept only the best, you are a maximizer and need to be assured that every purchase or decision was the best that could be made. Yet how can anyone truly know that any given purchase or decision is absolutely the best possible? As a decision strategy, maximizing creates a daunting task, which becomes all the more daunting as the number of options increases.”

Read More

The Reversal of Desire

“If there is a key to influencing the future, it’s through bold action.”
— Phil Stutz and Barry Michels

I’m a massive fan of Brian Johnson and his work with Optimize. The content he puts out for a small fee monthly is simply remarkable. I recently took his “Optimizing for the Modern Hero 101” course and it was the single best course/book I’ve come across in years. The course was so full of wisdom that it’s nearly impossible to distill within a single article. Johnson has a remarkable ability to marry timeless wisdom from the ancients with the latest research by the top experts in the field. Of all the gems that stood out, one in particular resonated with me.

Johnson’s use of the abbreviation OMMS. Obstacles Make Me Stronger. Of course this phrase is nothing new, we’ve all heard it. What resonated with me is how Johnson tied it in to the broader concept of Arete, which meant “excellence of any kind” in ancient Greek. The basic idea of OMMS is that obstacles shouldn’t stop us, they should accelerate us. Johnson ties the concept of OMMS with the idea of aggressively seeking to get past mediocrity. In fact the antonym for the word “excellence” is “mediocre”, with the etymology of the word mediocre coming from the Latin ‘medius ‘middle’ + ocris ‘rugged mountain’. The origin of the word literally refers back to being “stuck in the middle of a rugged mountain.”

Isn’t that how life often feels? We all feel “stuck” at times. I’m often “stuck” my own mind, caught in between where I am and where I want to be, governed my self-limiting beliefs.

Here’s a real life example of how being stuck can cause real life stress. It has to do with a boat. A beautiful boat that I’m really proud of that sits down in the harbor in Newport Beach. For a guy from rural Northern Wisconsin buying the boat and leasing the slip was a big moment in my life. It meant the promise of many happy days spent exploring Newport Harbor and Pacific Ocean.

There’s been a problem though— one that exists in my head. I would constantly find reasons NOT to take the boat out.

Too windy.

Too many people.

Not enough time.

These excuses were part of something bigger. The night before I would constantly run scenarios through my head. The motions I would take, my plan of action and strategy to get it back into the slip, etc. This included obsessively checking the weather leading up the the event.

I was psyching myself out, making a normal act much bigger than it needed to be.

The more I thought about it the bigger it became. I was avoiding the perception of pain, the perception of potential embarrassment, and as a result I was missing out.

Then Brian Johnson clued my in on the concept of OMMS and the ideas of Phil Stutz and Barry Michels.

OMMS…OMMMS…OMMS…OMMS....

The bigger idea, according to Stutz and Michels, is that our infinite potential exists on the other side of our comfort zones. Too often we stay within our comfort zones, not straying due to a variety of factors. Embarrassment, lack of confidence, etc. As a result we never challenge ourselves. Stutz and Michels call this concept the “Reversal of Desire”.

How do we get to the other side of our comfort zone? According to Stutz and Michels we take that apprehension and turn it into positive energy by moving forward with the mindset of “Bring it On”. Bring on the challenge, bring on the potential uncomfortable situation. Lean into it.

Brian Johnson’s advice? Rather than internally say “I’m nervous or I’m uncomfortable” we need to turn that anxiety on its head and say to ourselves strongly and confidently, “I’m excited!”.

So this past Sunday when I arrived at the harbor I avoided obsessively checking the weather report. I didn’t show up at the slip and procrastinate. I arrived early with my son and had the boat ready to go when my friends and family arrived. The engines were warmed up and we were ready to go! Was the flag on top of the Marina moving a little bit? Of course it was? Was there a current in the Back Bay? There always is. Who cares? I was ready and excited to take the boat out. And we did take the boat out, having a wonderful day in the harbor as a result.

OMMS…OMMS…OMMS…

According to Stutz and Michels the ability to fight through this discomfort is one of the secrets that makes the super successful just that:

“A few rare individuals refuse to have limited lives. They drive through tremendous amounts of pain—from rejections and failures to shorter moments of embarrassment and anxiety. They also handle the small, tedious pain required for personal discipline, forcing themselves to do things we all know we should do but don’t—like exercising, eating right, and staying organized. Because they avoid nothing, they can pursue their highest aspirations. They seem more alive than the rest of us.”

This isn’t about BIG THINGS. It’s more about the little things. Doing that little thing that you always avoid. Going to that restaurant and eating the food that you tell yourself you don’t like. Having a difficult conversation. It’s about looking out in the harbor and seeing boats of all sizes out on the water, taking advantage of that beautiful day…with boat captains not letting what might happen get in the way.

More importantly it’s about recognizing that life is always going to provide uncomfortable situations. A life lived within a comfort zone isn’t a life fully realized, and that’s something that took me way to long to understand.