The Issue With "Keeping Your Options Open"

A long time in my life I've been a big proponent of optionality — i.e. keeping as many options open as possible at any given time.

And it makes sense right? Options provide a certain feeling of freedom and peace of mind. When you got options, all the steps you take don't seem as risky.

But as I have come to see over the past couple of years or so, there is more nuance to optionality.

The trouble with optionality

In an essay called The Trouble with Optionality, Harvard professor Mihir Desai worries that the language of finance has polluted life. He condemns the modern, finance-fueled affair with optionality.

Rather than taking risks or working on important projects, students acquire options. In finance, when you hold an option and the world moves with you, you enjoy the benefits; when the world moves against you, your downside risk is protected and you don’t have to do anything. The more optionality, the better.

Picking a path reduces optionality, so people stay in limbo and don’t make commitments. This language doesn’t only apply to career planning. Some students talk about marriage and having kids as the death of optionality (maybe that's why we're getting married later and having fewer children).

But the optionality metaphor is harmful if you run too far with it. Optionality is a means to an end, not the end itself.

The goal of optionality

Isn't the point of optionality to eventually commit to something?

When we pursue optionality, we avoid bold decisions. Like anything meaningful, venturing into the unknown is an act of faith. It demands responsibility. You‘ll have to take a stand, trust your decision, and ignore the taunts of outside dissent.

But a life without conviction is a life controlled by the futile winds of fashion. Meaning and commitment are two sides of the same coin. The act of committing to something — a business, a child, a relationship, a place, or a community — brings forth the kind of meaning that so many people are starving for these days.

Societally, we overvalue optimization at the expense of commitment. There are tradeoffs in every decision you make, so past a certain point, having the perfect personal life is less important than having one you've simply committed to.

Instead of holding out for the best possible option to emerge, it's sometimes better to choose, commit, and start investing in something.

The proper balance of optionality and commitment depends on who you are and where you are in life, but urban technocrats are undervaluing commitment right now.