We tend to perceive limits as fundamentally bad. But is that necessarily the case? Can limitations be good for us?
There is a natural sense that the more options we have, the better. Limitations are… well, limiting. They keep us from getting the exact thing that we want.
However, in some cases our brains can be confronted with information overload. Given a choice of two or three items — for instance, jars of pasta sauce at the grocery store — we can settle on one fairly easily. Maybe we look at the price, or the ingredients, or one is a family favorite, or whatever.
However, that choice becomes much more difficult when there are a hundred options. Comparing a hundred prices, or a hundred lists of ingredients is much more daunting.
We see this with the internet. Someone opening up a web browser has a virtually unlimited number of websites they could visit. Perhaps you want to check out some news. Or play a game, or watch some cat videos, or learn a foreign language, or talk with someone halfway around the world. All of these, and much, much more, are available at the click of a mouse or a swipe of a finger.
How do you decide what to do? It can feel completely overwhelming.
It turns out that limiting your choices can actually be good in many cases. Narrowing your choices reduces cognitive load, or the amount of brain energy needed to make decisions. A sub-optimal decision made quickly and decisively, may be preferable to a slightly better option made later on.
Can you think of ways that limits can be beneficial?
Related questions: How do you limit yourself? How much is enough? When is it useful to fail? Too much or too little?