When You Have Too Many Options

I’ve been extremely fortunate to have been asked to do some private instruction during the past two weeks, and it’s reminded me of a concept I know a ton of you struggle with.

Technically, it’s called option paralysis.

Really, you have too many things you want to do and don’t know what the hell to choose.

Here’s my thoughts, and a bit on how I solve it. I go a lot more in depth on this, complete with a roadmap, in Quit Aspiring if you’re interested.

Fear

Most of the time I walk into a restaurant, the following scenario plays out.

Get seated
Get the menu
Find something on the menu I think I’ll like
Debate about looking at the rest of the menu, just to see what else might sound good
Find another thing on the menu I think I’ll like
Repeat steps 4-5 a few more times
Panic

Sound familiar?

You might be a bit surprised, but this menu story happens over and over again in your life in all sorts of places with varying degrees of anxiety.

With the menu, you want to know what sounds like it would taste the best to you right now. But the consequences are small. This meal is one of many in your life and at least 2-3 in your entire day. If the meal is bad, or you simply aren’t thrilled with it, then you get something else next time or you don’t come back. No big deal.

But this same scenario plays out exactly when you’re trying to choose what project/goal/important thing to do next with your life too.

Simply put, you have multiple options and you want to know what the best return on the investment of your time is. But, you don’t have the answer to that question – so you begin a futile search for it.

You’ll search the web, you’ll post on Twitter and Reddit, you’ll ask some peers or professionals.

But nobody has, and nobody will have the “right” answer.

Meanwhile, you’re stuck, and left deathly afraid you’re going to pick the wrong thing and either screw your career or at least set it back a few years.

Reality

You may have heard from relatively successful (and even famous) people that nobody knows what they’re doing.

In my experience, that’s entirely true.

Very literally.

People with years of experience still doubt themselves and run into this “too many options on the menu” problem. It does not and will not go away.

I know, I know – I’m now making the fear worse and I’m not really helping it or giving you an answer.

But quite literally, that’s because there isn’t one.

You might think I’m crazy to suggest that everyone’s favorite composer – John Williams – didn’t know what to write for his most famous scores before he began, but he didn’t. He may have had a bit of education and foreknowledge of what things sound good together, or even an idea of what tones sound like the picture he’s scoring to.

But did he know that two notes would make Jaws a classic and instantly recognizable before putting the two notes in question together and trying it out by placing them to picture?

No.

I bet he even had a few variations before settling on those notes and timing you’re hearing in your head right now.

“But Adam… I’m not freaking John Williams!“

Well, sure. I’m inclined to think that some of you are going to be as iconic as someone like John Williams. That being said, I get your point.

(humorously, he’s my example here, but I’m not even a big John Williams fan…)

So what about the rest of us plebs? What’s the magic bullet to solve the “what’s going to work and be my best return on investment” question?

To answer that, I need to go back to the menu metaphor.

Here’s how, after realizing that I had the option paralysis problem with food, I ended up fixing the issue (for the most part) permanently:

Get seated
Get the menu
Find something on the menu I think I’ll like
Close the menu

That’s it, it’s really that simple – and yes, it works with everything else too.

If you don’t get exactly what I’m describing, here’s what it looks like when applied to your project/whatever idea:

Just pick one.

It sounds so simple – too simple. But I assure you, it’s not.

First, you must choose. By choosing, you must commit (I commit to food by closing the menu, refusing all other options). You can only commit to one (although admittedly I do break that part of the rule from time to time – but I know I work better with two projects to bounce between, else I burn out fast).

It also helps to reflect on what information and knowledge you do have.

For example, say you want to commit to a project you hope to sell and make money from. It would be wise to ask yourself what the odds are that you can easily make money from said project.

If your idea was to make a sound effect library of city ambiences based on where you live – that’s harder to make money from. Why? It’s hard to get something especially unique with a city ambience. You also may not live in a city that’s unique to record. It’s also notoriously difficult to sell sound effect libraries to sound designers due to fear and imposter syndrome.

If your idea was to find the top 5 asset makers in the Unity Asset Store and make 100% pre-baked, drag-and-drop sound effects for their assets – I’d imagine that has a much higher probability of success. You have a clear, non-audio client (the asset designer), a clear offer (make their product even more unique in a crowded niche), and professional quality work. (Feel free to steal my idea)

But at the end of the day if you have both of these ideas all you can do is pick one and try.

Otherwise, you’re not doing anything.

And that’s the only way you actually fail.