Major Models

  1. Learning from Failure

  2. Facing Reality vs. Pretending / Ignoring Reality

  3. Determination / Courage

  4. Social Norms

  5. Opportunity Cost

  6. Triage / Prioritization (80/20 Pareto Principle)

Major Techniques

  1. Go to underlying reasons for the decision, and reason up. Goal Factor.

  2. If a new person walked into your life, what would they do? Escape your mental frame.

  3. When possible, run a trial of important decision before committing to them.

  4. Define and enshrine core priorities

  5. Premortem

  6. What would the most determined, courageous version of me do?

  7. Zero Based Thinking

    1. If I was not already in this job / relationship / situation, would I enter it again?

    2. If any variant of no, ask: How do I get out, and how quickly can I do it?

Minor Models

  1. Confirmation Bias

  2. Short term emotions

  3. Prevention Focus vs. Promotion Focus

  4. Identify and don’t tolerate the problems that stand in the way of your goals

  5. Design plans that explicitly lay out the tasks that will get you over your problems and onto your goals

Minor Techniques

  1. Find objective Information

  2. Distance yourself emotionally from the decision

    1. Worst case scenario

  3. Minimize the downside of your decision

  4. Set tripwires to check whether a decision needs to be made / changed

  5. Assume you can’t choose any of the existing options. What would you do?

  6. Assume you’re forced into one decision. What would you do?

  7. Have multiple good options in front of you simultaneously (Protects from premature commitment)

  8. Seriously consider the opposite on important decisions. Find a belief driving your behavior and argue with all energy against it.

  9. Look at your decision from the perspective of several time frames. 10 days / 10 months / 10 years, for example.

  10. When you have a difficult decision to make, flesh it out as a values conflict

  11. Honestly ask yourself what you want and what should be done about it.

  12. What am I likely to lie to myself about in this space?