NEW BOOK

Coming May 1, 2024 

Clever Skills

How to use your greatest human capabilities for the unfolding future 

 

 

AS PUBLISHED IN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Award winning & Best selling

10 x author

 

 

What people say...

 

 

I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which I live - the Yalukit-Willam - and pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging. 

 

 

« Agile is a way of thinking and working | Main | All that effort, unhappy with the outcomes »
Sunday
Aug112019

Choose satisficing over maximising

When we're working on a task or activity at some point we need to say, ‘Enough. It's satisfactory. That will suffice.’ 'Satisfactory’ and ‘suffice’ were cleverly combined in Nobel Prize–winning economist Herbert Simon's Theory of Satisficing.

This decision-making theory says look at alternatives and go with the best. Make a choice. It will do, it is good enough.

In my book ‘ish: The Problem with our Pursuit for Perfection and the Life-Changing Practice of Good Enough’, ish means somewhat, to some extent. Ish is about satisficing.

Maximising is not good for us. Perfectionists (called ‘maximisers’ by Simon):

- exhaustively seek the best options

- compare everything against others to an unhealthy degree

- expend excess time and energy, and

- end up unhappier with the outcomes.

Ish is the opposite; it's about being a satisficer. We:

- accept good enough

- not obsess over the options

- move on after deciding, and

- end up being happier with outcomes.

It's good enough!

Reader Comments

There are no comments for this journal entry. To create a new comment, use the form below.

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>