The famous management consultant, Peter Drucker, once said...
“In a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians will see is not technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce. It is an unprecedented change in the human condition.
For the first time – literally – substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices.
For the first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for it.”
See, a few decades ago, you could walk into a store & you would only have a handful of options from each category to choose between...
Or, if you got bored, you would have to choose between reading a book, playing a game, or going to watch the 1 movie playing today at the local cinema...
But, in today's day & age, things are (very!) different...
(better, yes... but also a lot harder to navigate as well!)
Today, we are completely surrounded by options...
In fact, we're drowning in them...
Unlike a few decades ago, when someone walks into a supermarket today to get some toothpaste, there are like 45 different options to choose between...
(I mean, who needs 45 different options for toothpaste?!)
And that's just toothpaste...
There are also 1000's of food options & 10,000's of other products...
...with the supermarket (depending on it's size), holding anywhere between 30,000 & 100,000 items for sale at any point in time...
It's known as the "paradox of choice" — more options are great, but can quickly turn into stress, indecision, overwhelm & unhappiness... especially if you don't know how to navigate all this information optimally!
There are also a countless number of entertainment options available to us too...
17,000+ titles to watch on Netflix (let alone all the other on-demand video streaming services that have popped up recently...)
Hundreds of TV channels...
And a near-infinite number of Facebook, Instagram posts, TikTok's (or Youtube videos to watch)...
(note: no matter how much time you spend scrolling Facebook, Instagram or TikTok, you will *never* reach the bottom because new content is created at a pace much faster than we can ever consume it!)
It comes down to this...
How do you make consistently ensure you're making the best possible decisions in your life? (whether that's avoiding overpaying for inferior toothpaste, picking healthier food options, or having a fun evening instead of suffering through a movie that's ends up being terrible & a total waste of your time?!)
Now, you also may be thinking...
"These are just small choices - they don't matter"...
And you're partially right (which I'll come to in just a moment), but you're also partially incorrect too...
And that's because... small choices, accumulate!