A friend sent me a fascinating New York Times article about how as humans, we instinctively try to keep our options open, even when cognitively, we know that it doesn’t serve us to do so. In a cleverly designed experiment with students, the article noted the following:

"Apparently [the experiment’s subjects] did not care so much about maintaining flexibility in the future. What really motivated them was the desire to avoid the immediate pain of watching a door close."

The article then goes on to quote Dr. Dan Ariely, the MIT researcher who designed the experiment:

“Closing a door on an option is experienced as a loss, and people are willing to pay a price to avoid the emotion of loss."

Ariely’s new book is called "Predictably Irrational."

I recently left the team that puts together the Conscious Living, Conscious Leaving podcast to be able to focus on my newest project, A Bigger Voice. It was a closing of doors for me that has allowed me to channel my energy into what I’m most passionate about right now. In smaller ways, I’ve closed doors–unsubscribing to mailing lists, telling a client at the beginning of a relationship that I realized I was the wrong coach for them, and politely declining a networking invitation. All of these contribute to more energy in the right places.

Someone once told me that the idea of missing an opportunity in life was an illusion. If it’s meant to be, the opportunity will come around again. A metaphor that I used with a client was that of a train station. If you miss one train, there’s always another one.

Close a few doors and see what happens in your life.