Life is a portfolio of choices

Make choices in context, rather than in isolation.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that your life is a portfolio of choices.
Rather than thinking about a choice in isolation, think about

(00:25):
it alongside any other relevant choices you happen to remaking.
That can help you make better choices and in general,
enjoy life more.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
So. In Wharton professor Katie Miltman's substack. Recently, she shared
a Q and A with behavioral scientist Erica Curios about
choice bracketing. Choice bracketing, according to Curios, has to do
with whether you think locally or globally when making a choice.
If you think locally in bracket narrowly, when making a choice,

(01:00):
basically consider the choice in isolation. All you are considering,
for example, is how to celebrate Thanksgiving, or what to
have for dinner tonight, or whether to go to your
neighbor's cookout. On the other hand, if you think about
a choice globally or bracket more broadly, you consider one
choice as part of a broader set of choices. So

(01:22):
as you consider how you will celebrate Thanksgiving, you might
also think about how you'll celebrate Christmas. Maybe you'll even
figure out when you last saw members of your family
and your partner's family. Bracketing broadly, you might recall that
you had a burger at lunch today, and you're going
out to a restaurant tomorrow night, and so you decide

(01:43):
to get something lighter and cheaper for dinner. Thinking globally
about whether to go to your neighbor's cookout might involve
remembering when you last saw your neighbors and also figuring
out when your next opportunity is to have a quiet
night at home. Katie Milkman suggested that bracketing broadly is

(02:04):
like considering our whole life portfolio. As she puts it,
just as considering each financial investment as part of your
whole financial portfolio helps you make wise money choices. When
you look at individual choices as part of a set
of life choices, you can often make better decisions for
your life portfolio. That's because you're able to get more

(02:27):
variety and address multiple goals. This is why I advise
planning travel for the year all at once, rather than
deliberating about each trip or school holiday separately. When you
plan the whole year's travel, everyone in your family will
get to look forward to travel they are excited about

(02:49):
at some point in the year, whereas a narrowly bracketed
decision to go to the beach for the holiday break
may leave half of your family thrilled and the other
half upset that they don't get to go skiing. Deciding
on family travel all at once also lets you think
about the travel budget for the year as a whole.

(03:11):
You are not asking narrowly whether you can afford one trip.
You are asking whether all your plans for the year
makes sense. Bracketing your choices broadly is important for time
as well. Longtime listeners have probably heard me caution against
the trap of thinking only in terms of the twenty

(03:33):
four hours in any given day. It is true that
there are only twenty four hours in a day. Any
given day may not include enough time for working nine
to six and coaching your daughter's softball game and serving
as a volunteer usher at the symphony, and practicing your
German and also seeing a friend. But think more broadly,

(03:57):
perhaps the timeframe of a month, and you probably do
have time to work nine to six most weekdays and
coach softball once a week, an usher at the symphony
one Sunday afternoon and have brunch with a friend, maybe
while speaking German at the same time. Broaden the timeframe

(04:17):
and suddenly you see opportunities for a variety of activities
that are important to you. The narrative of your life changes.
You're the sort of person who's a coach and a
symphony supporter and a good friend while also being a
rock star employee and parent. So if you're feeling like
there's not enough time in the day, never fear. There

(04:39):
probably is enough time in the month. When you bracket
more broadly, in general, there's plenty of room for family work, volunteering, friendships, exercise, hobbies,
whatever is important to you. And the more broadly we
can think about choices in general, the great. What are

(05:00):
the chances we'll get to do what matters in the meantime.
This is Laura.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a

(05:35):
production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
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