We’ve all been there. You’re on vacation with your partner. After a long day of sightseeing, it’s time to make the nightly dinner decision. The conversation goes something like this:
What should we do for dinner?
I don’t know. What do you want to do?
Anything is fine with me. You pick.
Okay. How about Mexican food?
But we just had tacos yesterday.
Burgers?
I’m a little burnt out on burgers.
Pizza, then?
Hmmm… I’m just not feeling it.
Well – what do you want?
I’m not picky. Whatever you want works for me. Really, anything is fine.
I give up!
The truth is, it doesn’t matter if you’re traveling with a partner, a friend, or a family member. This situation is bound to happen sooner or later. In fact, I am willing to bet it has already happened to you, more times than you’d care to count.
Fortunately, my partner taught me a brilliantly simple way to derail this conversation. He calls it the Pitch 3; Pick 1 method.
The lesson happened early in our relationship, right after I said, “Anything is fine with me; you pick.” Instead of falling into the dinner indecision trap, he swerved around it like a boss. He responded, “How about if I pitch three options, and you pick one?”
I don’t remember where we went or what we ate for dinner, but I do remember that being the last time we had this conversation, more than 12 years ago. Sometimes I pitch the ideas and he chooses. When we are traveling with others, we often ask a travel companion to pitch the ideas for a group vote. While it is not 100% foolproof, it works about 80% of the time, by my estimation.
Why is it so effective? For the same reason that the classic cookie-sharing method is effective. You know the one I’m talking about – where kid A breaks a cookie in half and kid B chooses which half of the cookie to take. Each party gets equal input into a decision that both parties have a stake in. By sharing responsibility for the joint decision, it becomes harder to blame the other person for the results.
You may wonder, “What about the 20% of the time it doesn’t work?”
In my experience, this method requires good faith on the part of all parties. For example, if you know that your partner has an aversion to seafood, and you pitch Sushi, Oysters, and Fish & Chips, the Pitch 3; Pick 1 method is unlikely to work for you. Likewise, if one party simply refuses to make a choice, or rejects all three options offered without suggesting alternatives, you’ll have to change tactics. (The Decider technique might be a better option.)
Nevertheless, with an 80% success rate, the Pitch 3; Pick 1 dinner decision method is worth trying on your next trip. Or, better yet, try it tonight in your own home. After all, there is no time like the present to start practicing a healthy travel habit.