The verb decide has deadly interesting origins. Though it came through Middle English deciden, Old French decider, and Latin decidere, you can tell that there's the prefix de-, kind of meaning "off". This was in the language as far as etymologists can trace it, and is either from Etruscan or Proto-Indo-European. It's the other part of decide that's surprising: -cide. Yup, as you may have guessed, this is the same -cide present in words like homicide, suicide, regicide, fratricide, genocide, and all those other euphemistic terms for nasty kinds of death. All the roots trace to the Latin verb caedere, meaning "to cut". The death-related words are connected because of the correlation between "cut" and "kill", a side meaning which later evolved from the word, and decide is connected because when you make a choice, you cut out all the other possible choices. – On the verb decide

• in latin means to cut off
• decisiveness
• a kind subduing is happening in decision making
• Decision juice you don’t use atrophies like a muscle you don’t train. Decision juice you overuse depletes and you require time to recover like a muscle you overtrain.
  1. Make more decisions from a position of Awareness.
  2. Make fewer decisions on trivial matters.
• The two fundamental secrets to decision are painfully simple:
  1. Focus on as few decision points as possible and ignore everything else.
  2. Structure your decisions so as to decide only once on as many future potentialities as possible.
• Skinner's Law: If [procrastinating][procrastination]] on an item, you only have 2 options:
  1. Make the pain of not doing it greater than the pain of doing it.
  2. Make the pleasure of doing it greater than the pleasure of not doing it.

• The two fundamental secrets to decision are painfully simple:
  1. Focus on as few decision points as possible and ignore everything else.
  2. Structure your decisions so as to decide only once on as many future potentialities as possible.

Take a piece of paper and write down every problem that comes to mind. Don’t overthink. Don’t analyze. If it comes to mind and sounds like a “problem”, put it down. It’s key to make the list as long as possible. Aim for at least 100 items. AT LEAST. When you’re done with the writing, get some water (you will need it if you do the first step right) and get back to the list.

Now apply the first principle to the list.

1. IS IT RELEVANT IN A BIG WAY TO YOUR VISION?
2. “What can I decide Right Now to address this?”

1. Reduce all decisions to yes action or no action. Instead of deciding what to do, frame the question as should I do anything or do nothing.
2. And if it’s not a resounding YES, then it’s a no.

Note how we shifted the focus from what should I do and should I do X to questioning the relevance of the question itself.

complex vs complicated

complicated: can be solved mechanically/algorythmically complex: has emergent properties

• cynefin-framework

Regret Minimization Framework

• So when faced with a difficult decision:
  1. Project yourself forward into the future.
  2. Look back on the decision.
  3. Ask "Will I regret not doing this?"
  4. Act accordingly.
• Regret Minimization Framework
• A short thread on how it works and how it can change your life...

books

• how to decide simple tools for making better choices

Notes

• Reid Hoffman’s Two Rules for Strategy Decisions
  1. speed
  2. simplicity — simplicity enables speed.

See

• yes-no
• ergodicity

Sources

• startupdaemon
• https://fs.blog/smart-decisions/
• https://mobile.twitter.com/george__mack/status/1350513143387189248
• https://taylorpearson.me/identity/
• One of the daily challenges of life is: “How do I get people—including myself—to do what I want?” The Four Tendencies framework makes this task much easier by revealing whether a person is an Upholder, Questioner, Obliger, or Rebel.
• How to make decisions
• https://thestoa.substack.com/p/a-gnostic-decision A gnosis decision
• A Leader’s Framework for Decision Making
• https://open.substack.com/pub/drmaciver/p/decisions-depend-on-the-decision
• https://www.feltpresence.com/discovery-how-to-decide/