Unlike another popular term McGinnis coined, “FOMO”—fear of missing out—which can teach us more about what we want in life, a fear of better options offers very little benefit. We can find ourselves coveting possibilities that may never be within our reach. That’s the thing about options: sometimes the alternatives don’t have to exist for us to become stifled by them. Real or imagined, the most toxic part of decision-making, McGinnis told me, is going over the same options again and again.
