We spend an immense amount of energy in our daily lives making decisions and determining the most optimal choice. But how do you know when you’ve made the best decision? What if the best decision isn’t necessarily the most optimal decision?
This is the concept behind “satisficing,” a decision-making strategy coined by economist Herbert Simon. Satisficing, a cross between the words “satisfying” and “sufficing,” is all about choosing an acceptable or satisfactory outcome rather than the optimal one.
However, satisficing isn’t just about making the “good enough” decision, says Julie Morgenstern, a New York Times bestselling author and the founder of WorkSMART Solutions, a productivity training and coaching company. It’s actually about speeding up the decision-making process.
“Satisficing is actually an elevated skill of developing rigor of thought in articulating your decision-making criteria,” Morgenstern says. She adds that she’s seen senior executives use it to make substantially consequential decisions.
The strategy doesn’t always have to apply to high-stakes situations, though. It can also be used in situations like deciding what to eat for dinner or which TV show to watch. In those cases, determining the criteria and settling for something “good enough” can save you time and mental energy.
What is satisficing?
Satisficing taps into several psychological principles, such as cognitive load and decision fatigue. When faced with too many options or too much information, we can become paralyzed and unable to make decisions. The human brain can only process so much information before it becomes overwhelmed.
“There are so many decisions we have to make in a given day as humans—and we will run out of time and mental energy if we belabor and are paralyzed by every decision having to be maximized,” Morgenstern says.
Satisficing reduces the “opportunity cost of time,” says Dan Ariely, a Duke University psychology and behavioral economics professor and the author of several bestselling books, including The Honest Truth About Dishonesty. This method helps us decide if making the perfect decision is worth the time and mental effort required to get there.
The key to better decision-making
As an example of how satisficing might work, Ariely presents a scenario of buying a camera and narrowing the choices down to two options.
“At some point, you realize that… the two options that you’ve identified are not very different from each other,” Ariely says. “So now the question is… ‘OK, I have two good options,’ and you pick one of them. Or do you say to yourself, ‘I need to pick the best one’? And the idea is if you try to pick the best one, it might take you lots of time, and you’ll spend way too much time.”
Ariely explains that, at some point, it’s just not worth the time to continue debating which choice to make in situations where the difference in quality is not that great. “When you have two choices [and] you like both of them, give yourself a deadline,” he says. “Say, ‘By Monday, I have to solve it.’ And if you don’t figure it out by Monday, toss a coin. It doesn’t matter so much.”
Maximizing vs. satisficing
At first, moving to a satisficing mentality may be difficult for “maximizers” who believe that there is one best possible option. For those who fall under this category, Morgenstern recommends practicing this decision-making strategy in everyday life, from what to wear to dinner to what to order at dinner.
“It’s easier to define satisficing criteria [for] frequent decisions, and if you get it wrong, the stakes are not that high,” she says. “Once you get better and more comfortable with the method, you can apply it to the next level of decision-making, [such as] what to say in a thank-you note, and you may never apply it to big, consequential decisions like house buying or job selection.”
For Katie Hostasa, a leadership coach and the owner of KMH Leadership, there’s an added ontological layer to this concept.
“[Satisficing] aligns closely with being attuned to one’s inner voice and authentic self,” she says. When we put pressure on making the perfect decision, the stakes are too high. “Being perfect is exhausting—I know as a recovering perfectionist myself. When we stop chasing perfect[ion] and who we think we ‘should’ be, we can experience our lives as they are.”
Instead of striving for the perfect decision, Hostasa says to start at your core.
“[This] involves understanding and honoring your values, beliefs and emotions and making choices that resonate with your true self rather than external standards or expectations,” she says. “One of the biggest challenges is overcoming the ingrained habit of striving for perfection. It takes a lot of practice to challenge the mindset.” She recommends taking notice of how often you’re striving for perfectionism and practicing replacing it with a “good-enough” mentality.
When satisficing isn’t the right choice
Satisficing works best for those who can articulate their decision criteria accurately. However, the method doesn’t work for everyone. Morgenstern says that pinpointing what decision criteria to follow can be difficult for more intuitive people who “know it when they see it.”
Morgenstern also says that satisficing doesn’t work for every situation, such as when a decision impacts more than one person, but the decision-maker only uses their perspective to set the criteria. It also may not be best for high-impact decisions that are new to a person, such as buying a house for the first time. She adds that the strategy may benefit the most high-achieving perfectionists and leaders who have to make swift and precise decisions.
The impact of embracing this approach can be powerful, and Hostasa has witnessed it firsthand.
“I’ve seen clients who embrace a satisficing mindset feel a real sense of liberation and empowerment,” she says. “It’s not always easy, especially when they’re used to chasing perfection. But with some practice and support, I’ve watched them start making decisions that feel more fulfilling and true to themselves.”
Not every decision requires exhaustive deliberation. Ultimately, satisficing is about making the best use of your time and cognitive resources. By setting criteria and knowing when to settle for an acceptable outcome, we can strike a balance that serves both our time and our goals.
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