The colours not in stock

A couple in Kuwait City are choosing a wardrobe for their new flat. The shop has it in four finishes. They like two of them.

Then one of them asks the salesman whether there are other finishes, the ones the shop does not carry at the moment.

Of course there are. There always are. Somewhere there is a darker oak, a different handle, a version with one more drawer. Once the question has been asked, the four finishes in front of them start to look like a compromise, and a decision that was nearly made comes apart.

Sometimes that question is exactly the right one. If they have time, and the flat is not ready, and the point of the afternoon is to see what is possible, then asking after what is not in the room is how people find the thing they did not know they wanted. Plenty of good choices begin with something that was not on offer.

But it helps to be honest about which afternoon this is. If the movers come on Saturday and the clothes are in boxes, the job is not to explore. The job is to choose a good wardrobe from the ones available.

On those days, the most useful thing is to act as if the other options do not exist at all. Not because they are worse. Because every one of them, however appealing, is a reason not to finish.

Exploring and finishing are both worth doing. The trouble starts when we tell ourselves we are finishing and keep exploring anyway.