Florian Schroeder

Florian Schroeder: Countless Possibilities, but no choice? Making Decisions in a Multi-Option Society.

Florian Schroeder was born in 1979 and studied philosophy and German literature from 2000 to 2007 at the University of Freiburg. He began his stage career as cabaret artist and parodist while still a student, gained experience as a presenter on radio and television, and was the recipient of numerous awards.

Countless Possibilities, but No Choice? Making Decisions in a Multi-Option Society

Would you rather go to the sea or to the mountains? Buy or rent? Kid or career? Quit or stay? We constantly have to make decisions and it makes us crazy – and, above all, unhappy. We have countless possibilities, but no choice. We whine and we brood over what is the right thing to do; we compare ourselves to others; and then we regret the decision that we have made. If I had only taken the other one, then everything would have been entirely different. We are overwhelmed by all the options!

More and more often, we decide that we do not want to decide.“You have the choice! Use it!“ Self-realization is the categorical imperative of the 21st century: „Become perfect!“, „Five-course meal and dream figure – everything is possible!“ Curse and blessing, power and powerlessness have never been so close to one another as nowadays. A sense of having failed to meet one’s own expectations is the new dominant sentiment: Someone who can find a hundred different jams on the shelves at Real, ends up preferring to go to ALDI. People who have countless possibilities, nonetheless constantly feel like they have no choice.

Living in a multi-option society often feels like going through never-ending woods at night. Along the way, coaches and advisors promise to shine floodlights on well-trodden paths of motivation, even though they do not even have a flashlight. Florian Schroeder keeps his feet on the ground and shows you how to keep the battery charged. When philosophers get boring, he gets funny, and when comedians get trite, he gets reflective.

A Talk on Laughter, Reflection and Thought. You will see the world with new eyes and enjoy making decisions again. In his talk „Countless Possibilities, but No Choice?“ Florian Schroeder shows us a way to make decisions and to become happy. He provides an instruction manual on making good choices – and living well: fascinating, funny, intelligent, and thoroughly human.

He is presently on tour with his stage show „Entscheidet Euch!“ (You Decide!) in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He hosts the cabaret program „Spätschicht“ on SWR television; his books „Offen für alles und nicht ganz dicht“ (2011) and „Hätte, hätte, Fahrradkette“ (2014) are published by Rowohlt; and since 2015, he has been blogging for „Psychologie Heute.“

Florian Schroeder is always timely. He analyzes, assesses, and calls into question. Meticulous observation of the political and social scene is his trademark. Florian Schroeder moves his audience, he enriches, and he provokes reflection. Like no one else, he combines the incisive powers of observation of a comedian and the analytical focus of a philosopher. Thus, with a light touch, he covers the spectrum from Kant to Facebook and from a hot chai tea latte to the Cold War.

For sixteen years, Florian Schroeder has been performing successfully on the stage as a cabaret artist. But he is also now thrilling his audience as a public speaker on a topic that could not be timelier. He grew up in a society in which everything seems possible. But precisely for this reason, it is hard to make a decision and the burden of choice is becoming heavier and heavier.