Hacker News Reader

Comment by Aerroon | Hacker News Reader

If you can't decide between two options then take out a coin. Heads you get a burger, tails you get tacos. Flip the coin. If you feel even a tinge of regret or disappointment over the result, then go with the other option. Being faced with a specific concrete option can make it easier to rank it compared to alternatives.

I learned of this idea from a TED talk many years ago.

View on HN

  Whenever you're called on to make up your mind,
  and you're hampered by not having any,
  the best way to solve the dilemma, you'll find,
  is simply by spinning a penny.
  No - not so that chance shall decide the affair
  while you're passively standing there moping;
  but the moment the penny is up in the air,
  you suddenly know what you're hoping. 
  -- Piet Hein, "A Psychological Tip"

Hah, interesting. I knew it from Frasier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=173&v=pPYiCw9HHXo&feature=yo...

It's a great technique. I've been doing it since the 90s. Also to break others out of indecision.

But side note: I've found TED really disappointing. For a good talk save yourself the time and read the 5 sentences above. Most aren't that good.

Anyone take issue with that?

> I've found TED really disappointing

This suggests a consistency of quality among TED talks that I hadn't noticed before.

I like some and not others.

This is one of my favourites. The last time I linked to it on HN nobody liked it but I didn't feel rejected. I felt special.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeDt9dgFXFk

I liked it. Thanks.

Great ones are great but there is the most incredible amount of dross.

I agree. I feel many talks are selling their books, adding a lot of fluff around the core point and making it a TED Talk. Would be great to have a blog that's entirely TLDW of Ted Talks

I think TED talks used to be better. Perhaps it's nostalgia, but I really enjoyed TED talks in the past. Martin Rees talking cosmology, Richard Dawkins talking about why the universe seems so strange, James Flynn talking about the Flynn effect[0], Barry Schwartz talking about the paradox of choice etc are enjoyable to me even today. There are many others, but I've not enjoyed as many in the recent years.

[0] https://youtu.be/9vpqilhW9uI

I do this and it works. I had thought it was my own idea but now you've got me wondering if I heard it from somewhere, possibly the TED talk you're referring to.

Hahah, I used to do something very similar as a kid, and my parents called me out on it. Having narrowed down my options, I'd announce out loud "I am going to have x". If I felt disappointed at that point, I'd revise it and have the other thing instead.

Instead of flipping a coin, my default choice is to go for the cheapest, even if it is just one cent. Not that I can't afford the more expensive option, but it is an arbitrary criteria that has the side effect of possibly saving money.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com