Yesterday (March 17), Sheena Iyengar was featured in a delightful article in the “Home” section of the New York Times. In the article, we learn a bit more about how Sheena, an expert on choice and author of this month’s The Art of Choosing, makes choices in her own life.

“We’re born with the desire, but we don’t really know how to choose,’ [Sheena] said. ‘We don’t know what our taste is, and we don’t know what we are seeing. I’m a great believer in the idea of not choosing based on our taste. I could wear makeup today, and one person would say it looks bland, another would say it looks fake, and another might tell me I look really natural. Everyone is convinced their opinion is the truth, and that’s what I struggle against. But doesn’t everyone? What I do is aim for consensus. That’s my rule of how to choose.”

In addition to the need for consensus that Sheena suggests above, the article also discusses how paralyzing too many choices can be, how simply having a choice can make us happier, and the best way to approach buying furniture for your own home.

~Marjorie DeWitt