Satisficing

What It Means

Satisficing is a way of deciding where you set a standard for what's good enough and take the first option that meets it. Herbert Simon coined the word to describe how people really make choices, since nobody has all the information or unlimited time to find the single best answer. It's usually contrasted with maximizing, where you keep searching until you're sure you've found the best.

How People Say It

• "It ticks every box I need, so I'm taking it."
• "Good enough is good enough on this one."
• "I'm not reading every review for a phone charger."

The Breakdown

How to satisfice

1. Before you look at options, write down what the choice must do: your must-haves and your limit.
2. Look at options one at a time.
3. Take the first one that meets every must-have.
4. Stop searching once you've chosen.
5. Save the long search for decisions where the difference between good and best really matters.

These steps are Buhata's own way of putting Simon's idea into practice.

Try it today. Pick one small purchase on your list, set two must-haves and a price limit, and buy the first option that clears them.

Satisficing or maximizing?

Where It Comes From

Herbert A. Simon coined "satisficing" as part of his work on how people and organizations decide. He argued that human reasoning has limits, which he called bounded rationality, so people aim for acceptable results rather than the maximum. Simon received the 1978 Nobel Prize in economics for his research on decision making within economic organizations.

Good to Know

The standard you set before you start is what keeps satisficing from turning into settling, so make it specific: a price limit, a size, a must-have feature. Britannica describes Simon's theory as aiming for acceptable results while keeping complications and risks down, in contrast with economics' traditional focus on maximizing profits.

Related Terms and Categories

• Choice overload

  The finding that facing too many options can make people less likely to choose at all and less happy with the choice they make.

• Analysis paralysis

  Overthinking a decision so much that you can't make it, often because you keep gathering information or comparing options.

• Decision fatigue

  The idea that making many decisions in a row wears down the quality of later choices, a popular claim whose research evidence is disputed.

• Done is better than perfect

  A saying that urges you to finish and share work that's good enough rather than keep polishing it, known from a Facebook office poster Sheryl Sandberg described.

• Perfectionism

  Holding yourself or others to standards so high they can't be met, and judging yourself harshly when they aren't.

Productivity methods and focus