Our Hidden Options

Hey friends

Welcome back to the 1% Better Newsletter.

First, a lesson from fast food chains….

Coincidence or Purposeful?

Have you ever wondered why all fast food chains seem to be located next to each other?

How about why all car dealerships are in close proximity?

How about why there's always multiple vending machines?

I used to wonder the same thing, and then I stumbled across the answer:

When there are two fast food chains next to each other potential customers think-

"Do I want McDonalds or Wendy's?" instead of "Do I want fast food"

The marketers have removed our decision of not getting fast food, and replaced it with deciding between them and their competition. This increases their sales on average by 40%.

There are several morals of this story:

We are often unaware of why we make certain decisions.

We are often unaware of how much our attention is being directed by external forces.

We live in a time of unlimited options, which can cloud our judgement.

In this example, we should be considering if we want fast food, not which chain to go with.

There is Always a Third Option When We Only See Two

That analogy applies to all aspects of our lives. We corner ourselves into thinking there is only 2 options:

We succeed or fail.

We will be rich or poor

We will be educated or not educated.

Life is hardly this black and white. There is a multitude of options in between each extreme. In order to see these options, we have to acknowledge that we don't know everything.

This gives us the space to process new information, and see potentially new ideas that were previously hidden from us.

I am here to tell you, everything is not as do or die as we make it out to be.

Take a deep breathe, your hidden options will soon become available.

If you liked this idea, check out the posts below on All or Nothing Thinking and Mental Filtering.

Both of those dive deeper into these ideas and provide actionable frameworks: