Decision Making
The dogma of pros and cons
Here’s how almost every single person I know makes a decision: take the situation, make a list of pros and cons, weigh each side, and lean towards the heavier outcome.
I did this for years. Every single time, I felt like maybe I had bad judgment.
If you follow the same process and have the same feeling, don’t worry thy judgment is just fine. Fortunately or unfortunately, the process is completely cooked.
Here’s what I mean-
The pros and cons method is the most mainstream method out there - but the minute you question it with the smallest bit of logic, you see how full of shit it actually is.
You end up comparing things that don’t belong in the same conversation. Better salary versus shorter commute. Free lunch versus interesting work. You give them all equal weight because the list tells you to. Then you stare at it for another hour, still completely unsure, wondering why you can’t just make a goddamn decision.
And after all this thinking, it boils down to a super elementary, or rather, naive question - “which side weighs more?” As if weight was the issue.
What’s the alternative?
The Priority Framework.
I first heard about this from Keith Rabois, an investor at Founders Fund. Simple idea but works for everything - which college to choose, which job to take, which company to start, which city to move to.
Make a list of your priorities in life. Your top 10. The things you want most, no matter what.
Then take any decision and weigh it against each priority, starting from the top. Only if both options are equal on that specific priority do you move to the next one.
That’s it.
To give you an example - here are 2 priorities from my list-
Move to the US
Start a company
Any decision I make gets filtered through these two, in that order.
Should I take Job A or Job B?
First question - which helps me move to the US? If A does and B doesn’t - done. I take job A. I don’t care about the cons. I don’t care if the comp is lower or if the commute sucks. My biggest priority is met. I move on.
If both help me get to the US equally, I move to priority #2: which job prepares me better to start a company? Whichever does that - I go with it.
Still tied? I move to priority #3.
Once you’re clear on what you actually want, things don’t feel as hard anymore.
The pros and cons method tricks you into thinking everything matters equally. Office coffee gets the same weight as your career trajectory.
It’s so easy to get overwhelmed by certain decisions. When I’m having a hard time making one, it’s almost always because I’m looking at it from a pros and cons lens. The minute I switch and start filtering through priorities, everything becomes clear.
Define what you want, and when you get what you were looking for, just move on.
‘Cause life’s too short.
-RJagiasi
Banger