Think Globally to Make Better Choices
Each day we are faced with dozens of choices that affect our well-being. What will I eat? Will I exercise today? What time will I go to bed? We typically think about each of these decisions in isolation. When I wake up, I think about what I’ll have to eat. Later I will decide if I’m going to exercise.
Behavioral scientists refer to making decisions in isolation as thinking locally. Another option is to think globally by making several decisions at once. Local thinking tends to cause us to focus on the present moment. What do I want right now? Grouping choices together, also known as choice bracketing, helps us consider the long-term consequences of our actions, which often leads to healthier choices.
If I have to make a decision every day about going to the gym, there will be days when I’m tired and really don’t feel like going. So I’ll skip that day, no big deal. But if I think globally about the impact of skipping the days I don’t feel like exercising over the next month or year, I’ll probably decide that I’m better off going, even if I’m tired. Maybe I’m craving ice cream after dinner. I’ve had a long day and decide that I deserve a treat. But if I thought about it more globally, would I choose to have ice cream after every long day for the next month? Probably not.
Grouping decisions together can help you make better choices by making the aggregate impact of your choices more clear. What if instead of deciding each day whether to exercise, you decide on Sunday to exercise at least 3 times in the coming week? Or you decide you will have ice cream no more than once a week. You could group exercise and food decisions together, perhaps deciding you will only have pasta on the days that you go to the gym.
Choice bracketing also helps people make better financial decisions. When thinking locally, you may decide to buy a Starbucks coffee most mornings. If you think globally about how much you will spend at Starbucks over the course of a year, you might decide to make coffee at home a few days a week.
If I think locally about whether to have a glass of wine in the evenings while cooking or having dinner, I will likely have a glass of wine most nights. I know this isn’t ideal for my well-being. So instead, I think about it globally. I look at my calendar on Sunday and I choose a few nights in the upcoming week that I will not have any alcohol. Making the decision for a week’s worth of behaviors lets me consider the cumulative impact of daily actions on my health. What decisions will you try to think about globally to improve your well-being?
