Are you a travel satisficer or travel optimizer, and how does that impact your happiness? I've been thinking about this after reading the postscript in Nassim Taleb's “Fooled by Randomness,” which, appropriately enough, was an entirely random read since it was lying on my husband's bookshelf.
I'll spare you the Monte Carlo simulation examples and get right to the satisficing vs. optimizing contention with this quote:
“We know that people of a happy disposition tend to be of the satisficing kind, with a set idea of what they want in life and an ability to stop upon gaining satisfaction. Their goals and desires do not move along with the experiences…they are neither avaricious or insatiable. An optimizer, by comparison, is the kind of person who will uproot himself and change his official residence just to reduce his tax bill by a few percentage points…getting rich results in his seeing flaws in the goods and services he buys…”
What is Satisficing?
Satisficing was not coined by Taleb, but by Herbert Simon, a political scientist, economist and psychologist, who combined satisfy and suffice to express bounded rationality. Even if our goal is to optimize everything in our life, it would cost an infinite amount of time and energy. Hence, we set certain thresholds and limits, to enable us to stop searching once we've found a solution that satisfies our needs.
It's Natural to Want to Optimize Travel
For most of us, with limited vacation time and finite resources, it's a natural tendency to want to optimize our travel, endlessly tinkering with our itninerary to ensure our award ticket is the best possible use of our frequent flyer miles and points, that the hotel or resort is the best one in the area, that we uncover the top local hot spots and don't miss any “must-dos,” etc.
If anything, spending so many hours planning the trip and so many miles/points/money for the trip only increases our expectations and the pressure to enjoy the vacation.
At Some Point, Further Optimization Can Waste Time and Energy and Decrease Happiness
Have you ever exhausted yourself by staying up late exploring all the various options right before a trip or other major purchase, then second guessed yourself, had buyer's remorse or not even enjoyed the trip or purchase due to how tired you were?
Even if it's not as extreme as the above, there's a real cost to endless optimizing, which is less time with family and friends, less energy and time for other things that make you happy, and potentially insufficient sleep, which impacts health and mood. I'm as guilty of this as the next person, especially since travel and optimizing travel is my business, but I'm working towards striking the right balance and encourage my clients and readers to do the same.
4 Tips to Help Satisfice Rather Than Over Optimize
1. Frame the Decision
It can help enormously to write down what you most want out of the trip you're planning. Is the focus on a completely relaxing beach vacation and reconnecting with your spouse and partner? Is it crucial that your destination offer the ultimate in luxury while also offering historical places of interest and culturally rich experiences? Is your trip a quick city break in a foodie destination, with fun nightlife? Perhaps a family vacation that offers relaxation for the adults but plenty of exciting activities for the kids?
2. Use a Trusted Travel Advisor to Narrow the Decision Set
3. Allow for Some Randomness and Surprises
Taleb writes “I am convinced that we are not made for clear-cut, well-delineated schedules.” While you may or may not agree with this, for most of us, it's a refreshing change not to set an morning alarm when on vacation, and to put away our usual lengthy “to do” list. At least in my family, we try to limit our “must see” and “must do” to very few things for a given destination, to give ourselves time to simply absorb the feel of a place and take our time with what we see. To me, at least, those multi-day guided tours are the exact opposite of what a vacation should be like. On the other hand, some of my best travel memories are thanks to serendipity, such as the incredible Balinese dance and gamelan performance at Amankila (completely unknown to me when I planned our stay), visiting Lisbon sights with a knowledgeable local I'd just met, and being invited to dance hula on stage at a Waikiki hotel, even though I was still wearing the then 1 year old munchkin in a baby carrier. All random, and all memorable.
4. Curb the Urge to Optimize While on the Trip
Your vacation time is precious. Rather than exhaustively researching dining options while on your trip, focus on enjoying the moment and being present and engaged, with your family or travel companion(s) and the destination.
Are you a Travel Satisficer or Optimizer, and how does it impact your happiness?
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