This Princeton professor figured out why you can't get s*** done.

This Princeton professor figured out why you can't get s*** done. And the reason is so unintuitive I could barely wrap my head around it. Behavioural scientist Eldar Shafir conducted a study that gave college students two options for their evening. Option one, attend a lecture from an author you admire who is visiting just for the evening. Or option two, go to the library and study. Unsurprisingly, studying isn't so attractive compared to a once in a lifetime opportunity. And in the research study, only 21 percent of students chose to go to the library and study. Those results don't feel too crazy. But here's where things get weird. They gave a different group the same two options as the first group, plus one more. Option three was just watching a new movie you want to see. What they found with this new group is by giving three options as opposed to two, the number of students who chose to go to the library and study doubled to nearly 40 percent. Meaning giving students two good alternatives to studying rather than just one, paradoxically makes them less likely to choose either of the two good options. Now, this isn't rational, but it is human. Question is, how does this apply to your life? For me, I've become aware of how hard I try to keep my options open, whether that be for my career, my education or even my Friday evenings. But this study shows that the consequence of more options is less action. Presenting yourself with more opportunities can actually be putting yourself in a worse position overall. I don't have a one size fits all conclusion to this video, but I do have some encouragement. Encourage you to come up with a list of priorities of things in your life, things that you want to get done in one year, in five years, and in 10 years. Then I want you to cut it in half, focusing only on the things that are of utmost priority to your goal and vision for your life. Doing so, you're giving yourself less options, which paradoxically, might reward you with a better outcome. A lot of these ideas came directly from this book, Made to Stick. Completely unsponsored, but an amazing read. You should check it out. Thanks so much for watching. Drop a follow, I'll see you tomorrow.