How to Make Structured Decisions
Master Mike's structured framework to evaluate choices, eliminate emotional bias, score competing options objectively, and make confident, regret-free life decisions.
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🧰 Required Tools & Equipment
- ✓ Lined journal or notebook
- ✓ Dual-color pen (black and red)
- ✓ Digital timer or phone stopwatch
- ✓ Ruler for matrix gridlines
📦 Materials & Supplies
- ✓ 3x3 inch sticky notes (two different colors)
- ✓ Index cards for scenario mapping
- ✓ Yellow highlighter
⚠️ Safety Checkpoints & Warnings
- • Never make irreversible choices while sleep-deprived, intensely angry, or under acute emotional distress (HALT: Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired).
- • Avoid analysis paralysis by setting a strict time limit on gathering preliminary information.
- • Beware of sunk cost fallacy; disregard past non-recoverable investments when calculating forward-looking benefits.
📋 Step-by-Step Guide (6 Steps)
Frame the Core Problem and Boundary Conditions
Write a single sentence at the top of your notebook defining the exact choice you need to make. Underneath, list non-negotiable boundaries such as budget limits, deadlines, core personal values, and ethical red lines. Clear boundaries immediately eliminate unviable paths and prevent scope creep.
- • A clear, one-sentence question written at the top margin
- • A bulleted list of 2 to 4 non-negotiable constraints below the question
- • Framing the decision as a false either/or dichotomy instead of an open objective problem
- • Failing to define hard resource limits upfront
Generate Three Distinct Action Pathways
Write down at least three viable options on separate index cards, ensuring one option represents taking minimal or alternative action. Force yourself beyond a simple binary choice by combining features or considering unconventional solutions. Lay the cards out horizontally across your workspace.
- • Three separate index cards labeled Option A, Option B, and Option C
- • Each card containing a distinct, concrete plan of action
- • Creating dummy options just to favor a pre-selected preference
- • Limiting choices strictly to 'do it' versus 'do not do it'
Apply the 10/10/10 Perspective Filter
For each option, write down on a sticky note how you will likely feel about the outcome in 10 minutes, 10 months, and 10 years. Stick these directly beneath each corresponding index card. This exercise shifts your cognitive processing from short-term emotional reactivity to long-term value alignment.
- • Three sticky notes detailing temporal consequences aligned under each option card
- • Clear contrast between immediate emotions and decade-long impacts
- • Overweighting immediate discomfort while undervaluing long-term compounding benefits
- • Assuming current emotional intensity will remain unchanged over time
Construct and Score a Weighted Decision Matrix
Use a ruler to draw a grid with your top three decision criteria (e.g., financial impact, personal growth, time commitment) across the columns and options along the rows. Rate each criterion on a scale from 1 to 5 for importance, then score how well each option meets that criterion from 1 to 10. Multiply the scores by the weights and sum each row to obtain an objective ranking.
- • A neatly drawn table with labeled criteria, weights, raw scores, and totaled sums
- • A highlighted row showing the mathematically highest-scoring option
- • Changing the weighting criteria mid-calculation to manipulate the outcome
- • Assigning identical importance weights to every criterion
Perform a Pre-Mortem Stress Test
Select the highest-scoring option and set a timer for five minutes. Write down a detailed narrative assuming you chose this option and it failed completely six months later. Identify the specific points of failure and write a concrete mitigation step for the most probable vulnerability.
- • A paragraph describing the hypothetical failure mode
- • At least one written preventive countermeasure next to the failure point
- • Glossing over uncomfortable risks due to confirmation bias
- • Overreacting to catastrophic low-probability risks rather than manageable high-probability flaws
Commit to the Decision and Set an Execution Trigger
Write down your final decision in red ink, underline it, and define the single micro-action you will take within the next 24 hours to initiate execution. Close the notebook to signal the conclusion of the deliberation phase and prevent second-guessing.
- • A finalized decision statement highlighted in yellow
- • A scheduled 24-hour micro-action with a specific time and location specified
- • Reopening debate after the decision has been finalized without receiving new factual data
- • Delaying the first physical action step, which leads to renewed hesitation
Credit: inspired by an original tutorial by Vlad and Niki — watch the original on YouTube.
Don’t have everything?
- No Index cards? Cut or torn scrap paper squares
- No Sticky notes? Lined notebook margins or cut paper taped down
- No Ruler? Straight edge of a book or folded piece of cardstock