Recognize these scenarios?

Boyfriend: “Where do you want to eat for lunch today?”
Girlfriend: “Oh, I don’t know…”

Friend 1: “Hey, I’ll be in town next week - when do you want to catch up?”
Friend 2: “I don’t know…”

Sister 1: “Hey sis! When do you want to Skype today?
Sister 2: “Hmm… I don’t know!”

The cereal section of a store: “Hey customer, what kind of cereal are you looking for?”
Customer: “No idea.”

If you’re like me and most people, you or someone you know may suffer from choice overload. Basically, people have a hard time making a confident decision when they’re overwhelmed with too many options.

What does this lead to? A lot of headaches and unfulfilled plans.

A simple way to “hack” through choice overload is to ditch the open-ended questions above and to straight up offer the other person 2–3 reasonable choices (that you think would work for both of you).

In a perfect world:

Boyfriend: “Hey, I was looking at some places for a quick lunch today. Want to go to 1) Chipotle, 2) Seoul Taco, or 3) that BBQ joint around the corner?
Girlfriend: “Oh, Seoul Taco sounds good - let’s go!”

Friend 1: “Hey, I’ll be in town next week. Want to catch up next Wednesday or Thursday?”
Friend 2: “My Wednesday is pretty open - let’s hang out then!”

Sister 1: “Hey sis! Did you want to Skype at 5 PM before dinner, or at 8 PM after dinner?
Sister 2: “Hmm, 8 PM after dinner works better for me!”

The cereal section of a store: “Hey customer, do you want Cocoa Puffs or Trix?”
Customer: “Ha, good one. Trix are for kids!… I’ll take the Trix…”

*For those who are interested, I learned this after starting my full-time job just a few months ago.

People are very aware of choice overload in the business world, and do this all the time when scheduling future meetings with clients.

Yet, this “hack” also applies to pretty much every conversation outside of work and business. Try it yourself and get rid of the headaches that come from stagnant, open-ended questions.