Well, Violent Acres has done it again. Her latest article, "Too Much Choice is Pure Hell," points out one of the most interesting phenomena about human beings. We are bad at making complex choices.

Unlike V, I will take a stab at offering a way of solving this apparently impossible problem. It is a pretty well established fact that the human forebrain, ie that part in which our inner monologue and our 'thoughts' happen, is not really capable of making complex choices between similar alternatives. On the other hand, the rest of our brain, ie most of it, is perfectly capable of doing so.

Our first job as the 'drivers' of the process of making a choice is to provide our brains with as much information about the choice as we possibly can. Our other job is to _listen_ when the smarter parts of our brain come up with the conclusion. Don't second guess it, don't bullshit yourself, just listen. The rest of your brain knows your life and knows your preferences in a way that your forebrain simply cannot process.

There are times when you may need to steer more, specifically in the process of changing a habit, but these are rare occasions. Moreover, if you free up your forebrain from the constant agony of choosing restaurants or breakfast cereal, these other specific choices that need its oversight can have its full attention.

I personally have had quite a lot of success with this technique over recent years. I can now choose restaurants on a moment's notice, and I can also reliably make deliberate changes to my life and habits. My forebrain is dedicated to these deliberate changes, rather than being bogged down in day-to-day crap.