Why we struggle to make the Right Choice on Netflix and in Life.
well
i’m not exactly nervous it’s just that
my legs they are shivering a bit
okay sorry that was a very bad joke i’m
so sorry about that
but before we get started let me ask one
simple question
what if i tell you that 90 of everything
in the world
is nonsense okay let me rephrase that
what if i tell you that there is a law
which says that 90 percent of everything
in the world
is nonsense and i’m not joking by the
way i am serious
okay let’s let’s put this all to the
side let me ask
a simple and yet another question how
many of us
love the iron man the iron man
captain america hulk thor the avengers
as a faction
now these are the characters which pop
up into our minds every single time we
talk about
science fiction correct but let me tell
you one thing back in the 1950s and the
1960s
science fiction was not as popular as
cool and as famous as it is today
and back in those days there was this
one fine gentleman
his name was mr ted sturgeon and he was
a prolific science
fiction writer but the problem is that
he was facing a lot of heat
and a lot of criticism from the book
critics in that period
and these critics used to tell him that
hey mr sturgeon
ninety percent of everything in science
fiction is
nonsense now to all of them mr sturgeon
used to reply
yes you’re right but you know what 90
percent of
everything that is published otherwise
even that
is nonsense and this
very statement of mr ted sturgeon
went down in history to be known as
the sturgeon’s law ninety percent of
everything in the world
is nonsense and this very statement
became the talk
of the town in no time at all
now the sturgeon’s law might sound a
little funny
at the first glance but only at the
first glance
there is this another gentleman mr
daniel dennett who is an american
philosopher
a well-known one and he has studied the
students law in and out completely
and he has to say that the sturgeon’s
law applies not just to books and to
films
but it applies even broadly ninety
percent of everything around us
is nonsense okay i’m not kidding let’s
let’s take account
physics chemistry biology sociology
english maths all the other subjects of
study
the emails that we send the meetings
that we attend
whatever we discuss inside those
meetings the music that we listen
ninety percent of all of it is something
we don’t really require in the realist
of sense
and this is not a joke by the way i am
very serious about it
and okay i am a speaker who gives a lot
many examples
so here is another one take any average
grocery store around your house any any
grocery store
you know in an average grocery store
there are 34
different types of yogurt 24 different
types of cleaning products
and 30 000 total number of products
and that is just a local grocery store
the point which i am trying to make is
that people
today are bombarded with so many options
so many options and choices so many of
them right
career opportunities placement
opportunities hotels
restaurants films books music
holiday destinations leisure activities
and
an infinite number of lifestyles there
has never
been more choice than today and most of
it
right in the palm of your hand at your
disposal
by means of your cellular cell phone
device
right well that’s the truth but okay
as compared to all of this in the
present let’s go back
in time a bit that is somewhere around
the 1950s and the 1960s the time of our
protagonist mr sturgeon here
i’m guessing that back in those days
there were only
three types of yogurt only two types of
cheese
only three television channels and only
one telephone
that big black box with those dial tones
remember and even this telephone was a
rare luxury not many people had them
and one telephone was shared by
countless people by the way but
the point is that despite having so many
less options as compared to today’s day
and age
so less options people still were a lot
happier
a lot more peaceful and definitely a lot
less anxious
and a lot less dissatisfied as compared
to today’s day and age
does this sound amazing or ironical to
you in any way
i mean i don’t know it’s real right it
really makes sense
what do you have to say okay please
don’t get me wrong over here
i’m not saying that having options and
choices is a bad thing
it’s not a bad thing obviously having
options and choices
makes our lives a lot simpler most of
the time right
but just like everything else in life
there is a limit to it
and if that limit is exceeded having too
many options and choices
actually disrupts the quality of life
and this very phenomenon
is known as the paradox of choice now
the paradox of choice
is actually an experimentally proven
phenomenon
for example we we just spoke about
grocery stores right a few minutes ago
this time an experiment was conducted by
a supermarket
now what does this supermarket do they
erected a stall
with 24 different flavors of jelly
that’s correct 24 different flavors of
jelly the customers can come in any time
they want
they can taste any flavor and they can
buy it at a discount and leave the store
simple as that now that was on day one
on day two the supermarket conducted a
similar experiment
but this time with only six flavors of
jelly
and the result on day two was very much
surprising
and very much shocking on day two with
the lesser number of flavors
the supermarket was able to sell 10
times more jelly
as compared to day one that’s right with
six flavors
they sold 10 times more jelly as
compared to 24 flavors
what exactly happened here let’s find
out
now the customers were not able to make
a choice with 24 flavors
they were too overwhelmed to make a
choice and since they were so confused
they just could not decide what to
choose so they ended up
giving up their will to choose all
together and that is exactly what
happened
and this happens not just with jelly but
with everything else around in life
the more choices we have the more
overwhelmed we tend to become
and we end up giving up our willingness
to choose
altogether the paradox of choice
definitely works in mysterious ways
but that was just point number one and i
am just getting started point number two
the more choices we have the more unsure
we are about what to choose and we might
even choose something
but we might be disappointed and very
much
unpleased and dissatisfied with what we
have chosen
for example what if i chose that career
path
i would have been very happy in life
what if i chose this degree to pursue
and not the one i pursued eventually
i would have been so happy in life these
feelings are very much
very much very much obnoxious they don’t
sound pleasant at all have you ever felt
something like this
because i have sometimes and it doesn’t
really feel good
that’s point number two and point number
three and this is a revelation for you
if i have to choose from two brands of
milk
and if my neighbor has to choose from 20
brands of milk
then that does not mean that my neighbor
has more freedom than me
it only means that my neighbor has more
variety than me and there is a very big
difference
between variety and freedom variety
means having something or having more of
something that i already have
or having more of something that i don’t
really need
okay let me repeat that variety means
having
more of something that i already have or
having more of something that i don’t
really need let that sink in and
variety does not really give us freedom
no it doesn’t
it does not make us free variety only
imprisons us
it imprisons us with anxiety the anxiety
of missing out on something the anxiety
of not
making the right choice in life out of
the
options available or let me rephrase
that it actually imprisons us with the
anxiety of not making the best
choice out of all the available options
so it is rightly said by somebody
you can have all the variety in the
world but still
you will not be free
now this is exactly where our key
protagonist mr ted sturgeon and his law
come to the rescue now the sturgeon’s
law is by far an excellent mental tool
which allows us to let go to pass over
and to avoid again to let go
to pass over and to avoid most of the
things
situations and people in our lives
without
actually feeling guilty okay i like
doing that just one more time
the sturgeon’s law actually allows us to
let go to pass over and to avoid
most of the things situations and people
in our lives without actually feeling
guilty and it’s rightly said
again that the world is filled with
empty words
but you don’t really have to listen
okay i think i’ve said it countless
times that ninety percent of everything
in the world is nonsense okay
i admit that but whenever i make that
statement i’m also silently making
another statement
that 10 of everything is still relevant
and the task is not to identify the 90
and to cut it out from life
no the task is actually to identify and
to keep
and to embrace the 10 of everything in
life that genuinely matters
and once we do that when we identify and
keep the 10
of what matters the 90 irrelevant and
nonsense things in life will
automatically
eliminate themselves on their own
that’s the reality and it’s very simple
by the way but
but but do you know that the sturgeon’s
law besides applying in the external
world
it also applies to our inner selves i
mean i can say
that ninety percent of my emotions are
something i don’t really understand
ninety percent of my thoughts are
something i can never implement
and ninety percent of my desires are
just
too childish and the sturgeon’s law
actually helps me to identify and to
understand
which are those 10 percent genuine
feelings of mind which i should consider
seriously and which are those 90 percent
irrelevant feelings
thoughts emotions and desires which i
should just let go
with a smile now let’s address the
elephant
in the room how exactly do we identify
the ten percent of what genuinely
matters in life which will talk about
that
yes i am talking about that now it’s a
simple to-do list
which anybody in life can implement and
i mean anybody
just four simple points number one don’t
try to eliminate
the nonsense out of the world you will
never succeed
the world is going to stay irrational
for a lot longer than all of us are
going to live
so the task is to identify those few
things in life which genuinely matter to
you
to embrace them and to cast everything
else away
and leave everything else aside point
number two
don’t take and accept anything and
everything
just because the world and everybody
else around you is offering it
don’t do anything and everything just
because you feel like doing it
and everybody else is doing it and most
importantly
don’t buy any and every gadget or any
and everything that is available in the
market
just because it is available in the
market back it up with some thinking
that’s point number two point number
three try to
understand the difference between ideas
and good ideas
between people and good people between
thoughts
and good thoughts between emotions and
good emotions
between feelings and good feelings and
between investments
and good investments that’s correct try
to identify the difference between
what’s ordinary
and what’s good and recognize and
understand
nonsense for what it is nonsense
and point number four and here is a
harsh reality for you
the perfect decision is a myth a perfect
decision does not exist
so instead of breaking your head over
making the perfect decision in life
just try to make a decision in life
which is just good enough
you know in this world filled with
endless varieties and so many options
and choices and
areas of life good enough is
the new perfect that’s the to-do list
for you
and it is magnificently and quite deftly
put down by mr mark manson in his very
recent book
true freedom does not lie in knowing
exactly what you want to do in life
or what you want to pursue in life true
freedom
actually lies in knowing exactly what
you want to give up in life
that is true freedom ladies and
gentlemen thank you so much
have a nice day god bless you take care
and
i extend my deepest gratitude to the hr
college and tedx hr college for this
wonderful
and enriching opportunity thank you so
much god bless you all