Dear Human 💕,

I kept track and you nearly spent a day to find a hotel in Chicago for your weekend trip. That seemed a bit excessive to me.

I know you’ve been looking for the best hotel. The hotel at the best location, with the best sauna, and at the best price. Sure, that takes time. Is it really worth spending a day to find a hotel, where you’re going to stay for two nights?

Think about how you could have spent that time instead.  You could have spent that day playing board games. That would have been enough time to play Terraforming Mars and Ark Nova and Lost Ruins of Arnak. You might have even been even able to squeeze in a game of Wingspan. Think about that.

Next time, save yourself some time and play board games instead. Think about what you’re looking for and define what’s good enough. Find a hotel that meets your good enough criteria and stop there. It might not be the best one, but it will be good enough.

You’re looking for a hotel close to the River Walk and close to a train stop with a sauna for less than $250 / night? You got lucky and you found one. Sauna looks nice. It did get excellent reviews. Book it! Don’t spend any more time trying to find an even nicer sauna or trying to save $20.

You don’t need the best, if you found something that you consider good enough.

Why don’t you start a digital game of Wingspan so I can listen to the birds?

Yours,
Cat🐾

P.S. Psychologists call those two approaches to decision making Maximizing and Optimizing (or Satisficing). Maximizers are more prone to decision paralysis. That can happen while playing boardgames. Usually, when you have to answer with “Yes, it’s still my turn.”

P.P.S. It’s helpful to set a time limit for yourself how much time you want to spent at most until you make a decision. I sometimes have a hard time deciding what toy to play with. I always decide within 2 minutes so I can enjoy my time playing.