The Power of the Default Option

The Power of the Default:
Saying Yes to Life

Recently, I received an email informing me I would be automatically registered for a Conference unless I opted out. I never choose to go to this event, and yet, every two years, the assumption remains the same: unless I say otherwise, it is assumed I am going.

It got me thinking about the power of default options over our lives. The small, unspoken assumptions that determine our life choices without us realising it.

The opt-in vs. opt-out debate is well known in areas like organ donation. Germany and Austria are neighbouring countries, with similar cultures and economies, yet their organ donation rates could not be more different.

In Germany, where people must actively opt in to become organ donors, only about 12% register, whereas in Austria, where organ donation is the default position, that is, unless a person opts out, they are considered to be an organ donor, the registration rate is over 99%.

This dramatic contrast isn’t because Austrians are inherently more generous. It’s because people tend to go with the default option. When the easiest choice is to do nothing, that’s what most people choose, whether it’s about organ donation, superannuation plans or even the way we spend our daily lives.

How Complexity Pushes Us to Default

Another force that keeps us locked into the default option is ‘decision fatigue—when a choice feels too complicated, we avoid making it altogether. A famous study on retirement plans showed that when employees were given two or three investment options, most signed up. But when they were given 50 options, participation dropped significantly. Instead of carefully weighing up the choices, many simply did nothing.

The lesson is clear: when decisions become overwhelming, we default to whatever option is already in place.

Urgency and the Cost of Inaction

One of my mantras is, “What must be done, will get done.” Urgency has a way of cutting through inertia. A crisis forces action in a way that normal life does not.

We rush to the emergency room, but we delay check-ups. We make time for a friend’s funeral, but put off visiting them when they are alive. We stay where we are until something shakes us loose. This is why studies on regret show that people overwhelmingly regret not doing things far more than they regret the things they did. When looking back on their lives, most people don’t mourn their failures, but their inaction—the risks they didn’t take, the words they didn’t say, the opportunities they let slip by because life got in the way.

This raises a crucial question, how many regrets come from simply following the default option?

Jesus and the Default of ‘Yes’

This brings me to Jesus, who, if we were to define his “default setting,” was someone who always said yes to life, to people, and ultimately to God’s will—even when it led him to suffering and the cross.

The Gospels are filled with stories of Jesus interrupted. He is on his way somewhere, in the middle of teaching, eating, praying when someone calls out for help. A blind beggar, a grieving parent, a woman with a haemorrhage, a desperate crowd. Over and over, Jesus stops what he is doing, turns around, and choose to engage.

  • When he is tired and looking for rest, but the crowds follow him —he feeds them.
  • When a woman touches his robe in a bustling crowd, he doesn’t move on—he seeks her out and speaks with her.
  • When a Gentile woman begs him to heal her daughter, he challenges her but ultimately says yes.

Jesus’ default position was not avoidance, but engagement. Not “I’m too busy,”, but “What do you need?”

Even in Gethsemane, while facing the unbearable weight of what lay ahead of him, Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but yours be done.” This was Jesus’ ultimate ‘yes’, not just to life, but to sacrifice, to suffering, to redemption.

Lent and the Cross: Choosing a Different Default

Lent is a season that challenges us to examine our own default settings.

  • What are we living for?
  • What assumptions guide our choices?
  • Do we default to self-protection, avoiding difficult conversations, hard truths, and/or new challenges?
  • Do we default to busyness, postponing the things that truly matter until ‘later’?
  • Do we default to inaction, waiting for urgency to push us into doing what we already know we should be doing?

As we walk toward the cross this Lenten season, we are invited to re-set our default positions. To be more open to saying yes to the things that matter—yes to grace, yes to love, yes to interruptions that call us out of ourselves.

Ultimately, Easter reminds us that Jesus’ great “Yes” did not end in death, but in resurrection. It also reminds us that stepping fully into God’s will, no matter how costly, leads to life beyond anything we can imagine.

So perhaps the challenge of Lent is this:

  • What would change if we lived with a “Yes” default?
  • Would we look back on our lives with fewer regrets?
  • Would we be more open to love, to faith, to courage?
  • Would we be more like Jesus?

This is the gospel, and it’s good news.

Brian Spencer, Minister, Waranga Uniting Churches