Module 5 · Making decisions · Lesson 9 of 10

Good enough or the best?

Satisficing, maximising, and why looking for the perfect option can cost more than it gains.

7 min read · Free — no account needed to read

The idea

There are two broad ways to choose. Maximising means looking for the best possible option: comparing every phone, every job, every flat until you are sure. Satisficing — a word coined by the economist Herbert Simon — means setting clear standards and choosing the first option that meets them.

Maximising sounds better, and for a few decisions it is worth it. But searching has costs: time, energy, and the nagging sense that something better might be out there. Some research suggests people who habitually maximise end up with objectively good results and yet feel less satisfied with them.

Satisficing is not settling. It means deciding in advance what really matters, finding an option that meets it, and then putting your energy into making that choice work.

Why it matters

Chasing the best in every decision is exhausting and often makes people less happy with good outcomes. Choosing good enough for most things frees energy for the few decisions that deserve full effort.

See it happen

Leon has been looking for a flat for two months. He has seen thirty. Each time, he worries a better one might appear next week.

The first read

Where he lives matters a lot, so it makes sense to keep looking until he finds the ideal place.

With this idea

He writes his real standards: under a set rent, near a train line, a quiet bedroom. He signs for the next flat that meets all three. A month later he is happy there and has stopped browsing listings.

What changed

He set clear standards and chose the first option that met them.

Easy to get wrong

• Satisficing on decisions that genuinely deserve a careful search, such as major medical or financial choices.
• Setting “good enough” so low that it becomes resignation. The standards should reflect what truly matters to you.

Different perspectives

Reasonable people disagree here. None of these is presented as the final word.

Too much searching costs satisfaction

Research on maximisers suggests that always seeking the best is linked to more regret and less satisfaction, even with good results.

The effect depends on the situation

Later reviews found the “too many options” effect is small on average and appears only under some conditions; for some decisions, a thorough search really does pay.

What this rests on

Studied, still argued over. There is research here, and researchers disagree about how strong or general the effect is.

• Herbert Simon — bounded rationality and satisficing (1950s) — The idea that real people choose the first option that is good enough on the criteria that matter, because searching for the best has costs.
• Barry Schwartz — The Paradox of Choice (2004), and research on maximisers and satisficers — Argues that more options can make choosing harder and less satisfying, and that people who always seek the best option tend to feel worse about their choices. Later reviews found the average "too much choice" effect is small and appears only under certain conditions.

Try it: Set the standards first

1. Pick a choice you are currently searching for — a product, a place, a course.
2. Write the three things it must have. Only three.
3. Decide that the first option meeting all three is your choice.

Reflect

• Where are you still searching when a good option is already in front of you?
• Which decisions in your life deserve a full search — and which do not?

Use it in the coming days

Pick one open choice this week, write your three standards, and choose the first option that meets them.

Where to do it: My Goals

Writing clear standards next to a goal makes it much easier to recognise when you have reached it.