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Past a handful of choices, more searching adds very little while the cost of deciding keeps climbing, and if you are prone to circling it can stop you deciding at all. Set the number in advance: three quotes, two dates, one afternoon of looking. Then choose from what you have, knowing that a good enough choice made this week beats the best one made never.
Those who race toward good things will be the first to get them (Quran 23:61). The picture is of movement, not of standing still and surveying.
المؤمنون
أُوْلَٰٓئِكَ يُسَٰرِعُونَ فِي ٱلۡخَيۡرَٰتِ وَهُمۡ لَهَا سَٰبِقُونَ
are the ones who race toward good things, and they will be the first to get them
Qur’an 23:61read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
A meta-analytic review tested whether the pursuit of excellence can be separated from perfectionism in how it affects learning, which questions the common belief that higher standards are simply better. That is the assumption behind endless comparing. It is about learning outcomes rather than about buying a boiler, so the connection is by analogy.
Osenk I, Williamson P, Wade TD. (2020). Does perfectionism or pursuit of excellence contribute to successful learning? A meta-analytic review.. Psychological assessment doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
More options make the deciding harder without making the outcome much better.
When you are torn about something, get both sides out of your head and onto paper. Two columns, everything you can think of, no tidying as you go.
Choosing the app, picking the colours, setting up the tags: that is the task avoiding you. It is interesting, it feels like preparation, and by bedtime nothing has been done.
Notice the question you are asking yourself. If it is do I feel like doing this, the answer will be no today, no tomorrow, and no on the day it is due.