A heuristic is a mental shortcut, and one of my most commonly used heuristics is to imagine the most boring, conventional, mundane version of something before making any decisions about it.

When deciding on a new home base—a rental apartment, for instance—it’s tempting to envision a version of my life that is optimal and heightened before mentally placing it in that space and deciding whether it’s the right fit.

Yes, there’s a chance that I will use all that extra square-footage, and there’s a chance that I’ll utilize all those built-in appliances and devices that make the space seem especially luxurious and impressive.

But there’s also a chance that I won’t.

I may end up paying for gobs of extras space that I don’t use—rooms that I never even step foot in—and each of those high-end appliances may become just one more thing to clean, maintain, and periodically consider learning how to use before once again realizing I don’t have any real use for it.

I find that this approach helps me temper my initial burst of perhaps-unwarranted enthusiasm about some new whatever by diluting my default impression with a dose of alternative thinking.

It may be that I actually do make use of those fancy built-in gadgets, and do make use of all that extra space; but if I didn’t, would the flat still be worth the money I would be paying for it?

If I did not live up to expectations predicated on an imaginary version of my lifestyle, and assumptions made about what a future version of myself would prioritize and value, would I regret signing that rental agreement?

Maybe, maybe not.

There’s a chance that having extra space and those snazzy devices would add something significant to my life.

There’s also a chance that such accoutrements would add nothing, or would add a little something, but not so much that it justifies the inflated rental cost.

Making such decisions without first considering alternative, less-fun-to-think-about potentialities seems imprudent to me.

Failing to imagine the many possible mundane outcomes means I’m more likely to make decisions based on knee-jerk, emotional reflexes rather than an honest assessment of how things might actually turn out.

This mental shortcut is not perfect, and it won’t always paint an accurate picture of things. But I find it’s a useful perspective when thinking about apartments I might rent, projects I might start, tools I might use, and relationships I might invest in.

It helps me round out my initial, gut-driven sense of something with a plausible counter-narrative that helps me see more of what I’m considering as I attempt to imagine the outcomes that might stem from my decision.

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