These are the notes from my first pass at the Decision Journaling course by [[Nicolas Cole]] and [[Dickie Bush]]. --- Unmade decisions take up a ton of mental bandwidth and resources. Even small ones. - The longer time it takes for the decision to be made, the bigger the open loop becomes, the more stress it puts on you <mark style="background: #FFF3A3A6;">Decision journaling is all about writing with a purpose</mark>, with the intention of getting to a conclusion where you do something different and move forward with actions. A little off topic... - One of the biggest relationships you can build and become more aware of is your relationship with money. Your relationship with finances will dictate many of your behaviors and decisions. There are 6 categories of decisions. They may interact or overlap at times, but it's important to unpack and separate decisions into these different categories to help understand each piece. 1. Career (more from a high level identity perspective) 2. Business (from a more logistical, business decisions perspective ) 3. Relationships (friends, family, partner, etc) 4. Finances (all things money) 5. Personal development (habits, routines, are you living in alignment with your goals) 6. Lifestyle logistics (all the little things: meals, planning, etc) > [!note] Anywhere you feel stuck right now in your life, is most likely because of an unmade decision. The concept of being in debt vs building equity - If you are unhealthy and suddenly decide to go to the gym, you may need to spend months getting yourself out of debt before you start building equity in your health again - The same goes foe decisions/life, if you are feeling behind and stuck, it will take a while to journal your way through all that debt, but you will eventually get to the point where you are building equity and being proactive - <mark style="background: #FFF3A3A6;">Decision journaling is like going to the emotional & cognitive gym. Being consistent and proactive is key.</mark> Most decisions are not one-way doors. They are two-way doors. You can always go back if needed. This includes things that often feel like one-way doors, like quitting your job. You can always look for another job. - Real one-way doors are extreme examples (gambling all your money, telling somebody all the things you hate about them, committing murder, etc) >[!note] Decision journaling allows you to think through your thoughts before you need to say them out loud. At the end of the year, re-read through your entire journal and give yourself the opportunity to identify patterns. These will jump out at you when you re-read, but are hard to notice in the moment on the day-to-day. <mark style="background: #FFF3A3A6;">The biggest results in life come from very small actions done over and over and over again. </mark> If you struggle to make decisions, the way you improve is by practicing making decisions. Start with easy ones, then work your way up to bigger ones. It's like learning to play the piano. You don't start with mozart, you start with the basics and work your way up. But the act of practicing consistently is what matters. How do you know when you're done journaling? When either... 1. You've come to a conclusion or decision made 2. You are emotionally spent, you've said everything you can say # Mental Models for Decision Journaling ## 1. Bottleneck Analysis Before focusing in on the problem you're solving for, ask yourself, am I even solving for the right thing? Are there things that even come before this decision that need to come first? Ex: Quitting your job. The step that comes first is saving up an emergency fund. And if you aren't saving enough in your fund b/c you keep spending, then that problem needs to be solved first before you even work on quitting your job. So you outline all the decisions and steps you need to make in order for the the prerequisites to be solved. ## 2. Regret Minimization Whatever decision is in front of you, project yourself far out into the future (say, 50 years). Now look back at this decision from that vantage point. Then ask yourself, if I make this decision, will I regret it as an 80 year old? If I don't make this decision, will I regret it as an 80 year old? What tends to happen when you ask this question is you know the answer deep down, even if you don't like it. ## 3. Future Me Mentorship Ask yourself, who is the person you want to become, and what would that person tell you do today in order to get there? What would that person do if they were in your circumstance? A way you can do this in your journal is by writing a conversation script with future-you and imagining what that future version of you would say. ## 4. Hell Yeah or No If it's a hell yes, then do it. If it's not, the don't do it. To use this model, really pay attention to how you feel in your body. You can't use this mental model with cognitive logic. It works best with your emotions and feelings. Imagine saying hell yes, and examine how you feel in your body. Do you feel lighter? A sigh of relief? Then do the same thing, but imagine hell no. Pay attention to how your body reacts. ## 5. Invert the Question Take the decision you're trying to make, and pretend you are trying to solve for the complete opposite (which is usually a negative). Then, what are all the things you would do, to positively generate that negative outcome? Now you have a list of all the things you shouldn't do. Do the opposite of each of them. ## 6. Buying Optionality What is the decision I can make that will create more options, not less options? ## 7. Documentary vs Horror Movie Are you default positive, or default negative? Optimist or pessimist? Be sure you are aware of this when making decisions. Most people are negative. Ask yourself, "what if it turns out better than you can imagine?" ## 8. New Information Whenever you are confronted with a decision, ask yourself, "What new information do I need to make this decision (with confidence)?" When you catch yourself saying "I want to think on this for a bit", it's probably a sign that you need to use this mental model. It's not that you need more time, you just need new information (or you already know the answer and are avoiding it). ## 9. Value Relative to Time If a decision is taking a long time, this is a good benchmark. Are you spending an appropriate amount of time given the value of the decision? How much value is being wasted thinking about this decision, how much is it costing you?