Happy Tuesday!

About a year ago, I learned about the concept of choice architecture. As the name suggests, it’s about designing how the choices are presented to the decision-maker, hoping the decision-maker will pick the desired option over others.

There are many choice architecture strategies, but having default options that were optimal changed my life for the better. To have good default options:

• Eliminate bad choices
• Optimize your list of attributes

1. Eliminate bad choices

In San Francisco, I lived near a Trader’s Joe outlet that sold potato crisps for less than $2 per can. It was an affordable alternative to Pringles, one of my favorite snacks of all time.

I would buy a can of crisps each week when I shopped for groceries. During stressful periods, I would also finish a can of crisps in two days.

The same thing happened in Seoul. There’s no cheap alternative to Pringles, but there were saltine crackers that reminded me of home. Eventually, I found myself developing a sore throat from eating too many crackers and not drinking enough water.

I now avoid buying junk food as much as possible. If there’s no junk food in my house, it’s not possible for me to impulsively snack on junk food.

I also strive to buy a bag of granola or oatmeal during my first grocery shopping trip whenever I move to a new city. These are healthy options I can fall back on when I run out of time to meal prep or crave a snack.

2. Optimize your list of attributes

Whenever you evaluate a list of options, you’d usually consider each option by its attributes in some order of priority.

As a broke college student, I evaluate food based on price and nutrition. Seoul and San Francisco were expensive cities, so I prioritized price over nutrition most of the time.

I’m still a broke college student, but I now realize how expensive poor health can be, so I’m adjusting my attribute prioritization accordingly for every aspect of my life.

When I came to Hyderabad, I promised myself to buy a new pair of shoes. My old pair is over two years old, and its soles are completely worn out. I’ve slipped on dry ground with them—several times—and nearly sprained my ankle in the process.

So, for my next pair of shoes, I decided that I wanted something that is

1. “non-slippery” enough for hiking, and
2. more protective of my ankle.

When I finally went shopping last week, I initially looked at running shoes with “more grip”, and ranked the ones I liked based on their prices.

However, I also had a nagging feeling that the shoes I found wouldn’t have enough grip. After all, it’s a running shoe—there has to be a tradeoff between sole grip and running speed.

So, I started telling the store staff that I planned to hike in Himachal Pradesh, one of the Himalayan regions of India. A staff member eventually directed me to a store that sells hiking equipment, and I found a comfortable pair of high-ankle hiking shoes with good grip.

It’s slightly more expensive than the running shoes I liked, but considering my near-falls with my old shoe, prioritizing safety over price seemed like the most optimal choice.

This is a difficult strategy to implement. It’s very easy to forget what you’ve been through and give in to temptations.

Earlier this year, I finished 700ml (a full tub) of ice cream in three days, and I didn’t feel well from the sugar rush afterward. Now, I’ve stopped buying ice cream or anything sugary (like Oreos). I still enjoy ice cream twice a month, but it’s in small scoops, not a whole tub.

That’s all I have to share this week! If you do end up implementing some good defaults, let me know—I’m always on the lookout for new inspiration.