Making Decisions

People always say your life is shaped by your decisions. Every good or bad thing you have right now is because of some choice you made. That's true. But if choices are so important, why doesn't anyone teach you how to choose?

It's strange: we spend years in school learning things we rarely use, but nobody ever teaches us how to make a decision. You're left to guess, or worse, copy what everyone else does.

I've spent years watching smart people succeed and talented people fail, all because of how they decided. It turns out decision-making isn't mysterious magic. It's just a skill. Anyone can learn it.

Here's exactly how to become good at decisions:

1. Reduce your decision load.
2. Think for yourself clearly.
3. Use mental models.

I'll explain each one, step by step, simply and clearly.

Step 1: Reduce Your Decision Load

Your brain is like your phone battery. It only has so much charge each day. Every choice you make, big or small, drains a bit of that charge. This is called "decision fatigue."

Think about how sharp you feel early in the morning. Then think how lazy or distracted you feel late at night. It's because you've spent all your brain power deciding small, meaningless things. Most people waste their energy on pointless questions like:

• "What clothes should I wear today?"
• "What should I eat for lunch?"
• "Did I say something dumb yesterday?"

Your brain doesn't know the difference between big decisions (should I move cities?) and tiny ones (should I wear blue socks or black?). It treats both equally. So the first step to becoming good at decisions is to stop wasting energy on small ones.

How do you reduce your decision load?

Say No Often

Successful people understand sacrifice. They realize success isn't about saying yes to lots of things. It's about saying no to almost everything except one or two truly important things.

Sachin Tendulkar didn't become the world's greatest batsman by going to parties every weekend. He sacrificed almost everything except cricket. You must sacrifice too. If you truly want one great thing, you must say no to almost everything else.

Make One Decision Now to Avoid Hundreds Later

This is powerful. For example, Barack Obama always wore the same grey or blue suits. Mark Zuckerberg wears the same grey t-shirt every day. Why? Because it's one decision instead of hundreds.

Maybe buy 5-6 identical shirts. When you wake up, no decision required. Just grab one. Your mornings suddenly become simpler.

Food is another huge drain. People spend hours each week thinking, "What should I eat?" Instead, pick meals for the whole week on Sunday, or get a simple, reliable tiffin service. One decision today solves dozens of future decisions.

Have a Simple Personal Life

When people become successful, they often complicate their life. They buy expensive houses, luxury cars, designer watches. But complexity consumes energy.

Choose a Low-Maintenance Partner

Your life partner dramatically impacts your ability to succeed. A supportive, easy-going partner makes your life easier. But a demanding partner - someone who constantly requires attention and time - drains you.

Love isn't ownership. True love means supporting each other's dreams. If your partner demands constant attention, your chance of success shrinks dramatically.

Limit Your Surface Area

Imagine your life is a canvas. The bigger it is, the more it catches distractions - emails, WhatsApp messages, Instagram notifications, calls, meetings.

Shrink your canvas. Have fewer email addresses, fewer apps, fewer meetings. Stop sharing your phone number everywhere. Turn off notifications. Ask people to contact you in one place, like email or Slack.

The smaller your surface area, the fewer distractions you face. Now you're calmer and have more energy for important decisions.

Step 2: Think Clearly for Yourself

Most people don't actually think. They just copy others. Copying feels safe: if everyone else is doing it, it must be right. But look at history. Greatness never came from copying.

Have Clear Principles

Write down what's important to you - your principles. In my business, we value students first, long-term thinking, and simplicity. Clear principles make decisions easier. When stuck, ask yourself: "Does this match my values?"

Spot Patterns

Life is full of patterns. Learn from them.

Patterns repeat. See clearly what consistently works, and do that. See clearly what consistently fails, and avoid that.

Step 3: Use Mental Models (Simple Shortcuts)

Mental models are simple tools that help you decide quickly and accurately. Here are the nine best I've found:

1. Have a clear long-term goal ("North Star"): Always ask yourself, "Will this decision bring me closer to my goal?"

2. Think long-term: Good decisions look smart 10 years later. Bad decisions might feel good now but usually look foolish later.

3. Project options forward: Imagine clearly where each choice leads you. Draw it out. See it visually.

4. Calculate decision half-life: Picking lunch lasts a few hours. Choosing your partner or career lasts decades. Spend more time on long-lasting decisions.

5. Consider second-order consequences: Buying a big TV doesn't just cost money - it steals your time, sleep, and focus. Eating salad for lunch isn't fun now, but it makes you healthier and sharper tomorrow.

6. Dependencies and sequencing: Certain steps must happen first. Do consulting work (fast money) to fund software or products later (slow growth but scalable).

7. Input-output symmetry: Good decisions have small inputs (time, money) and big outputs (success, happiness). Books cost little but teach you a lot. Instagram arguments cost hours but teach you nothing.

8. Risk and ease of undoing: Avoid irreversible, risky decisions. Testing small-budget ads online is low-risk and easy to stop. Spending your life savings at once is risky and impossible to undo.

9. Balance short-term and long-term: Consulting makes quick money but doesn't scale. Software scales but needs money first. Balance both cleverly.

Putting It All Together Clearly

Here's the entire thing simply again:

1. Reduce your decisions: Say no. Sacrifice small things. Make one choice to avoid many. Keep life and relationships simple. Limit distractions.

2. Think clearly: Don't blindly copy others. Define clear principles. Notice and learn from patterns.

3. Use mental models: Set clear goals. Think long-term. Consider consequences. Manage risk carefully. Balance short-term money and long-term growth.

Decision-making isn't mysterious. It's just a skill you can learn and practice. Once you become good at it, life gets better immediately.

Most people never learn this. They copy, guess, and become frustrated.

But now you understand clearly. Use these three steps consistently, and you'll quickly see your life become simpler, clearer, and better.

Make fewer decisions.

Think clearly.

Use shortcuts.

Master this, and you'll master your life.