Framework for Decision Making
Six questions you should ask yourself before making any big life decisions
Should I start a company? Should I go back to school? Should I write a book? Should I start or quit a full-time job?
In every transitional moment in your life, you will have a set of alternatives laid out in front of you. Choosing can be difficult and stressful to say the least.
Here are the 6 questions I ask myself before making any big decisions.
1- Am I closing any doors?
The first question I ask myself is: will the alternative I pursue directly take away any of my other options off the table? If so, is it worth it? As an example: will a decision of going traveling for a year prevent me from taking the dream job I just got offered? Or will this job prevent me from going travelling for a long period of time in the future?
This not an easy question because usually the biggest opportunities (such as starting a company) will require sacrifices and thus cutting some of your current alternatives off the table. So be aware of the opportunities or experiences you might be giving up while making such a decision. However, the good news is that those lost choices might not always matter, which leads us to our second point:
2- Am I opening any doors?
Am I building things, meeting people or learning new skills that could open new avenues or opportunities in the future?
By starting a new project you might be renouncing to a few other good options, but you’ll be building a stronger portfolio, which could open up new paths. Thus, overall you should ask yourself: does this decision have the potential to generate a “net positive” number of opportunities in the long run?
3- Am I learning?
A quote that has always resonated with me by Voltaire in Candid is:
“Cultivate our garden”
This quote has a few different interpretations; but essentially it means that we have to work on what we can tangibly improve about ourselves and about the world around us. Therefore, whenever I make a decision I ask myself: Is this the alternative in which I would learn the most? Not only in terms of skills gained but also in terms of knowledge about myself and about the people around me?
4- What will I regret not having done?
Jeff Bezos explained in an interview that when he made the decision to start Amazon he followed a “regret minimization framework”. Which meant that he asked himself:
“When I’ll be 80 years-old, looking back at my life, what will I regret not having done?”
Asking himself this simple question actually made the decision incredibly easy for him.
In most cases, we regret not having done something over having failed at trying it. Remember that you don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to become great.
5- Am I working towards becoming the person I want to become?
Before making a decision it is important to understand yourself and your own ambitions. For every big decision I make, I ensure that it is in some way getting me closer to whom I want to become. With new experiences you will learn more and more about yourself, but a simple trick could be to ask yourself: what does success really mean to you? Can you actually define it?
Some people are blinded by money while asking themselves this question so usually it requires a lot more thoughtful thinking to uncover what you really want. I have personally not yet fully uncovered what success means in my mind, but I know that there are things I want to get good at, which is thus what I have decided to focus on for now.
6- Can I pay my rent?
Starting a risky project usually means that the return on investment might take years… Having some money saved up, seeking a part-time job or making some lifestyle sacrifices might be necessary to succeed… Building something great takes time and sacrifices are going to be made. Buckle up.
Do you have a framework or questions you regularly ask yourself before making big decisions? If so, I’d love to hear! Leave me a comment!
