Hello there! My next mission is one that lead to an “ah ha” moment. Not only in understanding myself, but in understanding others. The question of the day is “Are you a satisfiser or a maximizer?”

Satisficers make a decision or take action once their criteria are met. 

Maximizers want to make the optimal decision. So even if they find something or see a choice that seems to meet their requirements, they can’t make a decision until after they’ve examined every option, so they know they’re making the best possible choice. 

I am clearly a maximizer. I must research, explore, and debate all options. The bigger the decision, the more information it requires. Sometimes to the point of complete immobilization and inability to make a decision. I never had a label for this before. And while having a word to describe my behavior was nice, what was even cooler was realizing that others in my life were Satisficers and this was a root cause for disagreements and conflicts about decision making. My husband is so clearly a satisficer. It made me CRAZY to watch him make decisions or take actions with so little consideration. Or at least the consideration I felt something deserved. Understanding this difference in thinking was like someone giving me a piece of my owners manual that explained how I operated. And like reading of piece of others.

Recently, I bought a car. And I did it in just a few days after deciding that I would start looking. This, seemed on the outside, to be a major departure from my maximizer ways. However, I’ve spent years researching, debating, looking at ALL my options until I knew just want I wanted. Once I found the car that met those criteria (and searched all other cars of that type in the city) the decision was easy.

However, while my husband and friends were excited about my new purchase, I didn’t feel that excitement. I did however, feel confident in my choice. Which I think is an even rarer thing in my world. The downside (well, one) of being a maximizer is that it is extremely difficult to feel confident in a decision, or even make one.

I’m not sure what to do with this discovery yet. But I appreciate the understanding of others perspective who might be satisficers or some combination of the two. Being aware of how I operate lets me be in a little more control of it I think. And hopefully, in time, I can tame the maximizer beast when it gets in my way.

I’m really curious to know which of you are satisficers and which are maximizers. Leave a comment. I think this could be an interesting conversation…

Have a good weekend all!

-Teresa