Criteria — a new decision, broken down
I overthink decisions so you don't have to.
Real choices, scored against real criteria. The weights, the trade-offs, and what the list missed.
Start here
Three stops, ten minutes, and you'll know whether this is your way of deciding.
Newest decisions
All decisionsThe First Phone Workbook
When first. Which second. Terms last.
The Home Gym Workbook
Narrow first. Score second.
The Mattress Buying Workbook
Narrow first. Score second.
The method
The list is not the decision.
It is how you find the one or two things that are. Here is the whole system, in six rules, so you can use it on anything.
Name the criteria before you look at options
Write down what matters before the first showroom, campus, or spreadsheet. Options rewrite criteria if you let them.
Weight them, out of five, and argue about it
The weights are the decision in disguise. They're the thing to fight over at the kitchen table, not the options.
Score every option against the same set
Or the totals mean nothing. Circle 1 to 5 in the moment, before you talk yourself round.
Read the gap, not the number
Two or three points is noise. Ten is telling you something. Find what it's telling you.
If the winner is the one you hate, the list is wrong
Not your gut. Go back and find the criterion you underweighted. It is usually the boring one.
Say what you actually did
Every decision here says whether I lived it. That's the prior conviction, and it's the only reason to trust any of this.
The dispatch
One email a month. Just what we're working on.
A short note each month with every new criterion we've added. No promotions, no pitches, just a heads-up on what's in progress.
