Stop looking and start writing

Conducting endless research can make you depressed – and not just because you miss all your deadlines.

According to psychologist Barry Schwartz, we often find it hard to make up our minds when faced with a surplus of possibilities. And this can make us miserable.

It’s not surprising writers are prone to falling into this trap. If there’s one thing the internet offers us, it’s everything. And the wealth of information online means it can be tricky knowing when to stop looking, and to start writing.

Less is more

We tend to assume the more options, the better. But in his book The Paradox of Choice, Schwartz points out that our obsession with freedom of choice, fuelled by our consumer culture, has led to the increasing complexity of everyday decisions.

For example, think about going online: whether it’s selecting a salad dressing or material for your report, we are subjected to an overload of promising links, images and information.

And even when we pick a path, we are often only too aware of the alternatives we had to forego. No matter the genuine benefits our actual preference may bring us, the imagined superiority of the roads not taken can make us feel like we’ve missed out.

Schwartz illustrates this decision-making paralysis with an anecdote about a company giving its employees the opportunity to invest in voluntary retirement plans.

For every ten options on offer, participation dropped by two per cent. So one in 50 people effectively passed up $5,000 a year in contributions from their employers rather than make a choice. The problem was that they were offered too many ways to invest.

Time out

Adrian Hon, a neuroscientist and founder of online games company Six To Start, believes the only way to regain some control is to artificially limit our choices, by way of a ‘secular Sabbath’: a day without technology.

Although he had the expected initial pang when disconnecting, he also found it liberating. After all, he says, ‘It wasn’t worth worrying about work or chores because there was nothing I could do about them for the next 24 hours.’

We’re not suggesting you corner your boss and announce your own weekly ‘secular Sabbath’ starting on Monday (although that would be nice). But switching off all your gadgets every now and then could not only give you space and time to finish that report – it could also improve your wellbeing.