Sometimes good enough is great.
Prime Future 197: the newsletter for innovators in livestock, meat, and dairy
Psychologists distinguish between two types of decision-makers:
Maximizers: People who want the absolute best option.
Satisficers: People who want the "good enough" option.
The idea is that the way you make decisions is largely determined by where you land on the spectrum between extreme Maximizer and extreme Satisficer.
An extreme Maximizer will constantly seek to optimize every aspect of every decision. An extreme Satisficer will accept the first credible option as good enough and move on.
The majority of us fall somewhere in between these two extreme ends, though with a clear bias towards one end.
Both extremes have downsides:
The Maximizer may leave happiness on the table.
The Satisficer may leave achievement on the table.
In my view, the goal should be to develop an awareness of your natural decision-making bias, and then to work on balancing it out with deliberate effort.
Sahil Bloom published that excerpt a few months ago, and it's been living rent-free in my head ever since.
My first reaction was that Maximizing sounds like the way someone with big aspirations should lean.
Then I heard a podcast where Tom Gayner, long time CEO of ~$20B insurance company Markel Group, shared a similar framework.
But his view made me rethink this whole topic.