Decision Frameworks Overload
I’m tired of hearing about “decision models”, “frameworks”, “matrix” etc etc etc.
“Charlie Munger’s secret. Do this. And boooom!”
It doesn’t work.
Because we’re being lazy.
Mental models and frameworks don’t work on their own.
The practitioner has to practice them.
The way doctors have to “practice” for the rest of their lives.
Input = Output
Soo, let me set the expectation first:
This method will work, if you work.
This method will work, if you work.
This method will work, if you work.
This method will work, if you work.
This method will work, if you work.
We’re all decision-makers
Suppose you made an important decision in your life.
Hired someone.
Fired someone.
Joined a company.
Left a company.
Married.
Started a side-project.
Said “yes” to a new project.
Whatever your decisions may be.
Remember:
To improve decision-making, you need to track your decisions over time.
I don’t know who said:
“What gets measured, gets managed”
That’s absolutely true.
So, what this method helps you with is:
Measuring the correctness or incorrectness of your past decisions.
How to measure?
And how do we do that?
By going through Self-interrogation
In short you roleplay two characters:
a police officer and a suspect.
Recording your answers in writing.
Not video, not audio. In writing.
Good interrogation = good questions
What kind of questions?
Questions
The kind of questions that give us:
A snapshot of our mind when we made the decision.
What were we feeling?
What were our reasons?
What were the alternatives?
What were our limitations?
What are expected consequences?
“That’s it?” you may ask.
No. That’s not it.
We’re not writing essays.
Essay-writing sucks.
Essay about your decisions: sucks-errr.
We need structure.
The Structure
BEFORE PART:
- Mental-physical state at the decision time
- The context
- What was the problem
- Things that control the situation
- Complications of the situation
- Alternatives that I considered
- Future prediction after this decision
Action
You need to do one thing.
Log your decision in 3 days of time.
You will review this decision after a year.
Next, the most important part.
Yearly/Occassional Review
You already recorded BEFORE part.
This is your AFTER part.
Quickly review your expectation vs. reality
- Everything went the way I had expected?
- What didn’t go as per my expectation?
- What key incidents happen?
- Whose advice stood true?
- What did I learn?
Now, that’s it.
I’m a big believer in the power of writing. (Get my Lean mean Writing System that my readers love.)
If you can write it, you can grasp it.
Writing exposes details to the light of day.
Now, answering few doubts that may arise in your mind…
Doubts
- If the process is so simple, why isn’t everyone practicing it?
A.: Because it needs effort. And by the way, world-class thinkers practice it. - My life is not soo happening. I don’t have many important decisions in my life.
Are you telling me your life sucks more than mine — the guy who logs his decisions? Nice try. - Will I become a Superman after practicing it for a year?
A.: Yes.
Now, about getting the full Decision Diary…
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