http://danariely.com/ I have a game you need to try. Let me describe it for you.
If you played this game, what would you do to maximize your payout? And, what does this computer game have to do with you living your purpose everyday?
In his book Predictably Irrational, behavioral economist Dan Ariely describes what happened when he offered this game to real people. I'm guessing you'll be surprised by what happened and what it means for the way you should approach your purposeful life.
- It is a computer game where you will be offered 3 doors: red, blue and green.
- You click on a door to enter the room behind that door.
- Once in a room you can choose to click as many times as you like. For each you'll receive 1 to 10 cents.
- Each room is programmed to provide a different range of payoffs with each click.
- You can switch rooms at the cost of 1 click.
- You get 100 clicks.
If you played this game, what would you do to maximize your payout? And, what does this computer game have to do with you living your purpose everyday?
In his book Predictably Irrational, behavioral economist Dan Ariely describes what happened when he offered this game to real people. I'm guessing you'll be surprised by what happened and what it means for the way you should approach your purposeful life.
Doors
When Ariely and a colleague had a group try this game the players tried all of the rooms and figured out which one had the highest payout, and then spent the rest of their clicks in that room. You'd probably approach this game the same way. An important aspect this game is that as long as you have clicks left you could always change rooms.
But what would you do if a door left unvisited for 12 clicks would disappear for the rest of the game? It shouldn't change your approach, right? When Ariely made this change players jumped door to door, keeping all of the doors available. That resulted in 15% less money. They could have made more by just picking 1 door and staying there for all the clicks.
Weird.
Players didn't change their behavior when Ariely changed the cost to switch doors from 1 click to 1 click and 3 cents. Players didn't change when they were told the exact payout for each door. Practice runs didn't change things and neither did allowing doors that disappeared to reappear with a single click.
Really weird. It seems people don't like the idea of losing options. According to Ariely, "Players just couldn't tolerate the idea of the loss, and so they did whatever was necessary to prevent their doors from closing, even though disappearance had no real consequences and could easily be reversed."
Closed Any Doors Recently?
The result of Ariely's game points to something bigger than a problem with a way we play games. It points to a problem with the way we live life. Ariely points out that "What we need to do is to consciously start closing some of our doors....We ought to shut them because they draw energy and commitment from the doors that should be left open--and because they drive us crazy."
Every option you keep available in your life takes resources away from every other option. Every time you say "yes" to something, it takes away from everything you've said "yes" to before. And really, how many of these options really contribute to a purposefully lived life?
Here's your challenge. Permanently close a door. Eliminate an option in your life and forget about it. Life is too short do anything else.
An Example
Years ago my wife and I owned an insurance and financial services agency specialized in retirement planning. As a financial services professional, I was required to earn and maintain a handful of credentials and licenses. Eventually we sold the agency and I moved on to a different career path.
A couple years later my licenses were about to expire. I was faced with a dilemma. Do I keep them or do I let them go?
Keeping them meant that I could easily reenter the profession. I would have the option. Keeping them would also mean paying renewals fees, spending time and money on insurance and securities related continuing education, and find and maintain an association with a securities dealer.
Letting them go meant that I could take all of that energy and put it to work someplace else in my life.
I chose to let them go. The only downside is that if I ever change my mind and want to get back into financial services (and I don't), I'd have to pass a bunch of exams a second time. A bonus is that I don't get weekly phone calls from recruiters for the myriad of insurance companies out there.
I'm glad I did. Those licenses were a "yes" that were taking away from my commitment to discover and live my purpose everyday.
Be well,
Sterling Lynk
P.S. - I found an excellent summary of Ariely's book at bookoutlines.pbworks.com. If you're interested in Ariely's book, you should check this out first.
P.S.S. - Take action now. Close 1 door in your life today. We are often afraid of what it will mean to eliminate options in our lives. Resist that fear and take action. Cut off 1 option and give those resources to you living your purpose.
When Ariely and a colleague had a group try this game the players tried all of the rooms and figured out which one had the highest payout, and then spent the rest of their clicks in that room. You'd probably approach this game the same way. An important aspect this game is that as long as you have clicks left you could always change rooms.
But what would you do if a door left unvisited for 12 clicks would disappear for the rest of the game? It shouldn't change your approach, right? When Ariely made this change players jumped door to door, keeping all of the doors available. That resulted in 15% less money. They could have made more by just picking 1 door and staying there for all the clicks.
Weird.
Players didn't change their behavior when Ariely changed the cost to switch doors from 1 click to 1 click and 3 cents. Players didn't change when they were told the exact payout for each door. Practice runs didn't change things and neither did allowing doors that disappeared to reappear with a single click.
Really weird. It seems people don't like the idea of losing options. According to Ariely, "Players just couldn't tolerate the idea of the loss, and so they did whatever was necessary to prevent their doors from closing, even though disappearance had no real consequences and could easily be reversed."
Closed Any Doors Recently?
The result of Ariely's game points to something bigger than a problem with a way we play games. It points to a problem with the way we live life. Ariely points out that "What we need to do is to consciously start closing some of our doors....We ought to shut them because they draw energy and commitment from the doors that should be left open--and because they drive us crazy."
Every option you keep available in your life takes resources away from every other option. Every time you say "yes" to something, it takes away from everything you've said "yes" to before. And really, how many of these options really contribute to a purposefully lived life?
Here's your challenge. Permanently close a door. Eliminate an option in your life and forget about it. Life is too short do anything else.
An Example
Years ago my wife and I owned an insurance and financial services agency specialized in retirement planning. As a financial services professional, I was required to earn and maintain a handful of credentials and licenses. Eventually we sold the agency and I moved on to a different career path.
A couple years later my licenses were about to expire. I was faced with a dilemma. Do I keep them or do I let them go?
Keeping them meant that I could easily reenter the profession. I would have the option. Keeping them would also mean paying renewals fees, spending time and money on insurance and securities related continuing education, and find and maintain an association with a securities dealer.
Letting them go meant that I could take all of that energy and put it to work someplace else in my life.
I chose to let them go. The only downside is that if I ever change my mind and want to get back into financial services (and I don't), I'd have to pass a bunch of exams a second time. A bonus is that I don't get weekly phone calls from recruiters for the myriad of insurance companies out there.
I'm glad I did. Those licenses were a "yes" that were taking away from my commitment to discover and live my purpose everyday.
Be well,
Sterling Lynk
P.S. - I found an excellent summary of Ariely's book at bookoutlines.pbworks.com. If you're interested in Ariely's book, you should check this out first.
P.S.S. - Take action now. Close 1 door in your life today. We are often afraid of what it will mean to eliminate options in our lives. Resist that fear and take action. Cut off 1 option and give those resources to you living your purpose.
[Image: http://danariely.com]