Set a “good enough” bar before you search
Decide your criteria first, then take the first option that clears them.
Key takeaways
- What it is: Decide your criteria first, then take the first option that clears them.
- Why it works: Without a pre-set threshold, every new option becomes a fresh comparison, so the search never ends and each alternative seeds doubt about the last. Defining "good enough" before looking — Simon’s satisficing — gives the search a stopping rule, which both saves effort and prevents the comparison spiral that erodes satisfaction.
- Evidence: Backed by observational / correlational evidence.
- Avoid: Setting the criteria after you start looking, so each new option silently raises the bar and the search never closes.
Why it works
Without a pre-set threshold, every new option becomes a fresh comparison, so the search never ends and each alternative seeds doubt about the last. Defining "good enough" before looking — Simon’s satisficing — gives the search a stopping rule, which both saves effort and prevents the comparison spiral that erodes satisfaction.
How to do it
- 1Before browsing, write the criteria an option must meet to be acceptable.
- 2Search only until one option clears every criterion.
- 3Take it and stop looking — the bar, not the field, decides.
What the evidence says
ObservationalGrounded in Simon’s bounded-rationality account of satisficing and in research linking a maximizing orientation to lower satisfaction. Setting a stopping rule directly targets the endless-comparison mechanism that the maximizing research implicates.
Honest caveat: The maximizing-dissatisfaction link is correlational and the scale has been debated; effects are real but modest, not deterministic.
- — Simon (1956), bounded rationality and satisficing
- — Schwartz et al. (2002), Maximization Scale — maximizers report less satisfaction and more regret, J. Personality & Social Psychology
Common mistake
Setting the criteria after you start looking, so each new option silently raises the bar and the search never closes.
IX Coach helps you fix a "good enough" threshold up front for a decision and reminds you to stop once an option clears it.
Practice this with IX Coach →