**[Download here.](http://traffic.libsyn.com/shawntoday/shawntoday-2015-02-18_the-tyranny-of-choice.mp3)** (17:45)
* * *
Today’s challenge comes from Matt. He says:
> *My biggest challenge when it comes to focus is how to pick the right choice from a lot of seemingly good choices, then getting paralyzed and being unable to pick any of them.*
* * *
If you’ve ever been to the toothpaste aisle, you’re no stranger to the paradox of choice. Or, as I recently heard it put: the tyranny of choice.
Just a quick search on Target.com for “toothpaste” nets me 217 results. 217. For toothpaste.
3D white anti-cavity, regular cavity protection, whitening, gentle whitening, Pro-health, extreme clean… Gosh, I don’t know. Do I want white teeth, clean teeth, or cavity free teeth? Can’t I have all of the above?
When we’re presented with too many choices, oftentimes we just choose none. Because we can’t decide between the multitude of options.
Consider these two scenarios:
1. A friend calls you up says she has two tickets to go see a movie, and asks if you want to go. Your only decision is yes or no.
2. Or, suppose that same friend calls you up and simply asks if you want to go hang out. Assuming you say yes, now you have to decide what to do. Go see a movie, go bowling, go to a museum, go out to eat (fast food or sit down), etc. The options are endless…
Last week my wife surprised me. In the morning before I began my work day she told me that she had booked a babysitter and made reservations at a restaurant. The only choice I had to make was if I wanted to go or not — of course I did. And did I care where we were going? No, not at all. The decision had been made for me and it was simple to accept it and enjoy the night out.
I got to go on wonderful date, and all I had to do was show up. How easy is that?
Oftentimes the easiest, laziest thing we can do is just accept the choice that’s been made for us. Which is why if you’re waiting until it’s time to begin work before you make a choice about *what* to working on, the choice is much harder. Instead, make the choice for yourself ahead of time and capitalize on your own laziness. Why not!?
Try this:
1. Today, at the end of your day, write down the one thing you need to get done tomorrow. Not necessarily an “urgent” task with a deadline, but rather an important ones. A task you need to accomplish in order to keep making progress on a project.
2. Now, decide when you’re going to do that task. Preferably, it will be the first thing you work on tomorrow.
See? Now your current self is making the choice for your future self. Right now, when you can think clearly and make an unbiased decision about tomorrow, is the perfect time to make a decision about the first thing you’re going to do.
For me, I’ve taken it a step further. In addition to writing down the very first task that I am going to work on tomorrow, I also already know the *type* of task: writing.
For me, I usually spend the first 2-3 hours of every day just writing. I don’t check email or website stats or Twitter. I open up my text editor and I write. Sometimes I’m picking up on where I left off from the day before, other times I’m working on something unique.
I already know that my work day begins with writing. And the night before I usually chose which writing project I’m going to work on first.
Writing is my whole job. I love to write and communicate. And, if I don’t write, then eventually my business goes away. That’s why I dedicate such a significant chunk of my day, as the first thing, to my writing. If I get nothing else done that day, at least I’ve written.
To recap: If your biggest challenge to focus is the tyranny of choice, then make the choice ahead of time. Then, keep that commitment.
(If you have trouble keeping your own commitments, and following through with your own choices, then read the article I published last week on “Procrastination”. There’s a section in there on getting back your own personal integrity.)
* * *
But there is also another side of the coin related to the tyranny of choice: a lack of high-level clarity about our life itself.
The good news is that you *can* figure out your life vision, the long- and short-term goals of your life, and how you plan to reach those goals. In fact, I’ve discussed this already in some previous episodes of Shawn Today. If you go back to the archives page and listen to the episodes between July 31, 2014 and August 8, 2014 — that is where I talk about the five components of a focused life, defining the vision for our life, setting life goals, and then several episodes on action plans.
Those topics are the meat of what The Power of a Focused Life is about. In short, a compass to help you find clarity in the midst of feeling overwhelmed.
* * *
P.S. If you haven’t yet seen the book trailer, it’s really cool: [shawnblanc.net/focus](https://shawnblanc.net/focus)
And if you’re not yet signed up for my weekly email newsletter, you should. It’s great, and there’s a lot of great content in there: [shawnblanc.net/newsletter](https://shawnblanc.net/newsletter)