What McDonalds and clothes shopping have in common
#97 - India is very good at cricket
This post was originally written on 06/11/2023.
Hi there,
The bursting of fireworks is my soundscape for today’s blog post, quickly replaced by some smooth legato violin on Classic FM to drown out the noise of my sister nattering away, not letting me concentrate.
It’s been a time of relaxation for the past week, watching a lot of live cricket with the World Cup in India (I can’t remember the last period when I was able to watch so much sport) and a few calls with friends, whilst getting some school and university prep work done too. I have also found time to reflect on the first half term, taking stock of what has transpired in the first 8 weeks of being school captain.
Highlight of the week: a wet Thursday afternoon in the town centre with my sister. In a bid to get us both out of the house, I thought of visiting the local library - not exactly the 21st-century version of a ‘day out’ but there was something almost cool about such an old-school trip to go to town. Starting with a savoury treat and Mozzarella Bites (delicious and squidgy), we then spent close to 2 hours reading books in peace (more on what book I read are at the bottom of the email).
I. Before we came home on Thursday, my sister wanted to go to a newly opened ‘thrift store’, in search of a coat and a way to spend the cash Mum had given us to buy stuff. We walked in and she immediately became fond of a yellow puffer jacket towards the entrance. She checked the price, and - £10 - and then saw what Mum had given her to shop with - £10.
“Super, buy it then” I said, pulling a rational robot-face. “Really?” my sister asks surprisedly.
“Well, I can tell by your face that you really like it and it is what you wanted/needed, so why do any more thinking?” After a moment of thinking, she says “Okay!”, the beaming smile still stuck on her face.
II. This afternoon, we were up in Tamworth to shop for some clothes, for Diwali next Sunday and my birthday (less than 3 weeks till I’m an adult!) As my sister and I went around, we noticed how there was sufficient, yet less, choice in the men’s section as opposed to the women’s section which was double the size.
Anyway, I went around looking for a new top, picked the best 5 I liked, hung them up next to each other, rejected 2 quickly and those chose two of the other 3. 10 minutes, job sorted. (I then challenged my sister to choose something in 15 minutes; I won’t go into how successful that was 😆)
III. After our clothes shopping, we wanted lunch and went to our usual, McDonalds - you know what you’re getting. Waiting at the self-serve kiosk for Dad, I told my sister that we were going to sign in with the MyMcDonalds thing, since we go to McDonalds quite often. Dad was quite happy to swipe past the prompts to sign in, hungry to get to the menu (quite literally). The Gen Z smartphone superstar I am, I managed to download the app and sign us in just in time to get quite a few points up and it means we’re entitled to some free food next time we go.
I too, however, wasn’t behaving with full rational sense. Later on, I was clicking past some “Festive Wins’ pop-up screens on the app, trying to get to the codes I needed. only later did I understand what it was - the chance to get rewards.
These 3 examples reminded me of an idea I’ve recently learned in behavioural economics, that I can now place a word next to - bounded rationality, which is often born from choice overload. Our brains have evolved with scarcity, for example with insufficient supply of food, the fuel we need to stay alive (which, again, was the core motive of human life). Therefore when we are faced with options, it is exciting - we get to choose the best option for us, based on whatever parameters we choose to set - style, looks, convenience etc.
However, the brain has limited capacity and is unable to decide from so many options. A classic example of this is in food superstores, where we are faced with an abundance of choice. In theory, this should mean we derive more utility (or gain more benefit) from the purchase because we can choose the one that is best for us. But that takes time, energy, attention, human currencies we have in limited supply and are always in demand.
Trying to make the best choice is tiring and that’s why we end up picking a ‘satisfactory’ option, one that might not even be the best option for us. It is these principles of trying to reserve spending these resources on decisions not worth them that belies the famous adage that Mark Zuckerberg has multiple versions of the same colour - shirts.
This is founded in the concept of FOBO or fear of a better option, the sister to FOMO, coined by the same person, Patrick McGinnis. In looking for the best option, we are unable to commit to a choice, in case another more optimal opportunity comes along. As a friend Luke once accused me on a birthday lunch out walking around Grand Central, “Adi needs to walk around, find all the restaurants, analyse the pros and cons before making a decision”. In the end, we chose a decent one, where I tried Vietnamese pho for the first time.
What can we do to try to reduce this overwhelm:
Set yourself limits - of number of choices or in time. You could either say “I’m going to choose the best bike from the first 15 I see” or say “I’m going to make my decision of which suit to buy in 10 minutes”. The second approach takes advantage of Parkinson’s Law, the idea that work expands to fill the time you allocate to it. It’s usually part of a productivity spiel but could be taken into this context too.
Think about the importance of the decision - this is exercising the 5x5 rule of “If you won’t worry about it in 5 years, then don’t worry about it for more than 5 mins.” Will this choice of whether to have BBQ sauce or mayo really be important? No, so get it done with and move on - you’ve got bigger fish to fry.
Know your main objective - is the job to find the best shirt there is or one that looks good on me and I like? I think it’s more the latter. This is explained by the ‘Paradox of Choice’. It’s almost as if the presence of options makes us widen the goal posts and want an even more optimum result that what we initially set out for and, in truth, necessarily require.
This sort of analysis paralysis may just be a form of procrastination from tackling the main problem and making big progress. As I start revision for mocks in the upcoming few days, I will be careful not to fall into the trap of making a beautifully elaborate and colourful plan, but rather get on with it. With limited cognitive load and mental energy, spend it on what will move the needle more (a phrase I’ve been using a lot lately), remembering that there is only so much planning and detail you can cope with, before you start making net negative choices.
Book of the week 📖
When I went to the library, I picked up Life on a Plate: The Autobiography of Gregg Wallace, a MasterChef judge and food TV icon. I’ve loved exploring his desperately modest upbringing and troubles as a young person, providing a welcome inspirational boost that achievement is very much possible if you keep at it.
Podcast of the week 🎙️
Deep Questions with Cal Newport: Ep. 261: Control Your Time
Always love listening to the slightly robotic voice of Cal Newport, as he explains time blocking, one of my favourite concepts in time management.
Article of the week 📰
Peregrine Falcon image wins bird photo award
Nature images are my non-guilty pleasure, here’s another round of them. My favourite is the ‘Great Guilty Owl’.
Quote of the week💬
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that give everything its value - Thomas Paine
Here’s hoping I made the right Diwali clothes choices!
Adi