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There's a term called "satisficing" vs "maximising".
When you maximise you aim to get the absolute best possible outcome. This means comparing every single attribute, which can be exhausting.
Try learning to accept "satisficing" instead, it's the philosophy of "good enough". Come up with a criteria, find 3 options that fit, choose 1 of them and bite the bullet. There might be something out there that's a slightly better deal or had an additional feature, but you saved a lot of time and energy not having to look for it.
Thanks for sharing the word "satisficing"! I've never heard it before and it's really nice to have a word for that concept.
I definitely fall into the maximizer category and that causes some of my purchase paralysis. For many types of item, I've started just buying the wirecutter recommendation and trusting it to be good enough. Clothing and furniture feel more personal and less generic, so the wirecutter strategy hasn't applied, but I will have to try to find a way to satisfice with those purchases too.
I think you need to change the goal. Rather than the goal being to purchase the right chair, make the goal into "buying a chair today". Now your task isn't to decide on the best chair and to maybe buy no chair if none seem good. Your goal is to have a chair tonight. So at that point if you have seen a few chairs and they all seem equally "fine", great! In that case pick any of them, they'll all satisfy the challenge, and go home content!
Only barely related, there's a Numberphile video you may find interesting about choosing portapotties, but the premise is "how many do I need to look at before committing to this one without seeing the rest". Again, barely related, but the takeaway is that you don't necessarily need to see every chair to get a sense of the average chair and then just pick the next one that seems average or better.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, they're really helpful! You kind of combined the concept of satisficing from one comment with the deadline suggestion from another comment in a helpful way. I think reframing my goal as you suggest would work for me. I'm definitely looking for the perfect chair right now. Maybe if I was looking for the good enough chair today it would help me pick. I worry about getting buyer's remorse, but realistically I'll just be happy to have a chair.
If you know what you want in an item, go somewhere that there are actual salespeople that work on commission. I sell cars for a living, but I also very much struggle with big purchases. I'll go and stare at what I want. Then go read reviews. Then go back and stare but not do anything.
My girlfriend and I needed a new mattress and went shopping. Ran into a salesperson and she had me sold in an hour. She was nice, informative but most of all great at selling. I left feeling good because I met a person who knew how to sell (which in my line of business is always appreciated) and also because I got to be done buying.
The two things I take out of this I can relate to this. You are somewhat frugal and when you buy something you wish you bought it sooner. I have learned that if you plan on getting an item you should get it as soon as you are certain. There’s no point waiting for the new version of something (especially technology). Being equipped in the now will help later on.