The word ‘default’ has a negative connotation. The default is the state without characteristics, devoid of special value. When you win by default, it’s almost as if you haven’t won at all and are undeserving of the points or the recognition that come with winning. But defaults can be very powerful and valuable. Effectively, defining a default shortens or in some cases even circumvents decision-making. This is a good thing because decision-making, especially the kind involving careful analysis and a judicious exercise of discretion, is an onerous process. It might seem like necessary work, but it is really only warranted in a minority of cases.

When a choice has to made, there are two basic scenarios. In one, the choice is clear because one option is manifestly correct or better than the others. This scenario is not problematic. In the other, however, the choices are relatively even, with considerations pointing in different directions. The corollary is that the final choice is not particularly important, because – barring some sort of mistaken apprehension – neither outcome will be significantly better than the other. Moreover, since the alternatives are difficult to parse, the decision-making process takes a long time. The resultant irony is that a lot more mental resources are spent on making relatively inconsequential decisions. The borderline calls take up most of the time and rarely result in a satisfactory resolution. This is reminiscent of the joke in business that the amont of time spent on a topic in a meeting is inversely proportional to the importance of that topic.

The power of defining a default lies in pre-determining the outcome for such ambiguous cases. Usually this would be the outcome that has less risk or downside. The default is a tool to harness doubt, using the very existence of doubt itself as a signal that the alternatives are too closely matched for long deliberation to be worthwhile. Once you begin to doubt, you simply stop and refer to the default. The only variable is the amount of time that needs to be invested in making the determination that the situation is genuinely doubtful. For more complex questions, more examination is necessary because initial impressions might be misleading or based on incomplete information.

The default might seem like an esoteric rule that only applies under special circumstances, namely when multiple possibilities are comparably good. What I’ve observed in my experience, though, is that these ambiguous situations actually account for a large proportion of cases. Things in the world are messy, options abound, and knowledge is incomplete. So often, things are “close calls,” and you could spend a lifetime honouring insignificant decisions with lavish attention, as I sometimes do at the grocery store. On my most recent trip with my brother to the Czech Republic, we were buying some local spirits to bring back home with us. There were two bottles we were interested in, and at first I only put one in my cart. He had taken both and, seeing I was torn, said, “if you’re thinking about getting it, just get it; otherwise you usually end up regretting it.” He had the right idea.