Maximizers vs Satisficers

 I have recently come across this idea of maximizers and satisficers, and I have found it insightful and helpful!

Basically a maximizer is someone who looks to always take the best possible option, to always choose the best alternative. You will research intensively and exhaustively until you are convinced you have the best solution. You have high standards and are often a high achiever. But also you often experience high stress, have fear of missing out on something better and can procrastinate and take much more time (and energy!) as you keep working to find a good alternative.

A satisficer looks for a good enough solution. They will often define a previous criteria and once you have a solution that hits it, that is it. They take that choice or solution and you move on. They decide faster, with less regrets and are often less anxious.

Please note that we can be different things in different areas of our lives! we might be relaxed at work just focused on delivering what is strictly required while investing significant ammount of time in finding the perfect gift for your partner or designif the best possible holiday for your kids.

I am clearly (and these days somewhat unfortunately) a maximizer in most areas of my life. Whilst it has for sure helped me get where I am in my career (due to dilligence, delivering high quality work, hard work and effort), now it is not that helpful. As I am mostly a senior manager and cover a fair ammount of different areas, to be efficient and sucessful, I am expected to take decisions, that is what people most expect of me. If I dawdle thinking about something, take time to reflect, things start piling up significantly and dramatically! I stop helping my team, topics start to get stuck at my end, and worst of all I start to get anxious and to feel ineffective and not good enough!

Also unfortunately, I seem to be this way in most areas of my life! for sure at work but also in things like finding the best flight (for a weekly commute!), the best pull-up bar (!), the best gift, the best diet... Damn it is tiring, and for sure it consumes a hell of a lot of time! For my weekly flights I spend hours! and then delay booking in the hope that something better pops up (eg with miles opening up) and once I book it I start immediately questioning myself and regretting the booking I did! Cannot seem to win!

After reading about it, there are a few solutions I will aim to try out:

- go for a rough 1st draft. See it for what it is, a 1st draft. Measure of sucess is getting it done, not about its quality! it can be just a few bullet points, some ugly slides, does not matter! (I think this will really help me... it takes the pressure of, because I accept it will not be about the quality. and it gets me started! then I will have something to work with, and invariably it will be surprisingly good! I will feel relieved that I have something!)

- similar to the above, go for a MVP (minimal viable product). Define what is the minimum I can accept, eg let's aim for 3 conclusions, of 1 overall picture, or a choice of 2 flights to decide!.

- define a time box, not a task box. Don't think (or say) I will now get this done, but say I will invest 25 minutes in this task! Thinking I will now get this done is stressful... because I expect high quality, so I avoid it. I am afraid of it... of the work it entails... and what if its not good enough... Framing it as I will now work on it for 25' it's about progressing it! And again, invariably, by the end of those minutes I will have something that I will be happy with.

Let's try this and see how it goes.

The power of questions - harness your brain

 Often we may feel our brain, or the voices we hear in our head, are actually not helpful. For sure, I am regularly haunted by very negative or critical thoughts - "you´re not good enough" a common one!

On this post I will not dwell about why we get these thoughts, but want to talk more about how we can harness the power of our brain and channel it in a more positive way. 

There is something that is always true: your brain will give you answers to the questions you ask of it. So be aware of the questions you ask and aim to direct them.

Often, if we are feeling bad, we will think "Why am I feeling this bad?". What does your brain do? It will aim to give you answers to this question: eg bringing up examples of what is not going well in your life... what things you are unhappy about... and so on. Can you criticize your brain? Not really, it is just looking to answer the question you have asked!

Try instead to ask positive questions. Try now this process:

1. Think about something you want. Visualize it. Example: you may want to have a productive day. Or you may want to lift your spirits. Or you may want to clarify a direction for a specific project. Visualize your ideal outcome: you ending the day feeling great about everything you have achieved. You in a good positive mood, happy. Or you progressing a specific project, seeing it landing successfully.

2. Ask yourself the question "What can I do to make this happen?". Keep asking and capture the answers. Your brain will do its best to answer you, going through previous learnings etc to give you the best suggestions. For example: for a productive day, it might suggest to list all the key tasks and prioritize them. Block time to do each of them. To start with an easy one to get momentum. For lifting your spirits, it might say go for a walk! it might say to remember what you are thankful about, to list it. Or to call a friend and open up. For the project, it might give you ideas of desk research you can do. Stakeholders you could interview. Potential customers you could talk to. 

3. You can then take the answers and choose the ones that you feel good about or that you feel will drive things forward towards the desired outcome. 

4. Extra tip: if the suggestion you get is not clear enough, just take that suggestion and ask your brain again: "what can I do now to make this happen?" - and sure enough your brain will give you more detailed suggestions.

Point is your brain is powerful and is at your service. It will aim to answer the questions you give him! So do aim to take that power and direct your questions. And watch out for questions that will not give you positive or nurturing answers.