Frequently asked questions about thinking, epistemology, and cognitive tools. 9738 answers
Nodding along with this lesson and then maximizing anyway because 'this decision is different — it really matters.' That rationalization is the maximizer's signature move. The more a decision feels important, the more likely you are to over-search. But consequence magnitude is not the same as.
For most decisions good enough is better than perfect because the search cost exceeds the improvement.
Deciding in advance what you will do in a specific situation removes in-the-moment temptation.
Deciding in advance what you will do in a specific situation removes in-the-moment temptation.
Deciding in advance what you will do in a specific situation removes in-the-moment temptation.
Identify one decision you repeatedly make poorly under pressure — snacking, doom-scrolling, saying yes to meetings that should be emails. Write a pre-commitment rule in if-then format: 'If [trigger], then [pre-decided action].' Make it concrete enough that you'll know whether you followed it. Put.
Writing pre-commitment rules that are too vague to enforce. 'I'll eat healthier' is a goal, not a pre-commitment. 'If I reach for a snack after 8pm, then I drink a glass of water and wait ten minutes' is a pre-commitment. The other failure mode is creating so many rules that you can't track them..
Deciding in advance what you will do in a specific situation removes in-the-moment temptation.
Record decisions, their reasoning, and their outcomes to improve future decision-making.
Record decisions, their reasoning, and their outcomes to improve future decision-making.
Setting deadlines for decisions prevents analysis paralysis.
Setting deadlines for decisions prevents analysis paralysis.
Setting deadlines for decisions prevents analysis paralysis.
Setting deadlines for decisions prevents analysis paralysis.
Setting deadlines for decisions prevents analysis paralysis.
Identify one decision you've been delaying for more than a week. Set a timer for 25 minutes. Write down the two or three realistic options, the single most important criterion for each, and your choice. When the timer rings, commit. Notice what happened: the time constraint didn't prevent you from.
Applying artificial urgency to genuinely irreversible decisions that deserve deliberation. Time pressure is a tool for the 90% of decisions that are reversible and low-stakes. Using it on one-way doors — selling a house, accepting a job in another country, shutting down a product line — produces.
Setting deadlines for decisions prevents analysis paralysis.
Define good defaults so that the do-nothing option is acceptable.
Define good defaults so that the do-nothing option is acceptable.
Define good defaults so that the do-nothing option is acceptable.
Define good defaults so that the do-nothing option is acceptable.
Define good defaults so that the do-nothing option is acceptable.
Identify one recurring decision in your work or life where you regularly make the same choice. Write down: (1) the current default — what happens if you do nothing, (2) the choice you actually want to make most of the time, and (3) how you could restructure the environment so that your preferred.