Clear Thinking

Self-confidence is the strength to focus on what’s right instead of who’s right. It’s the strength to face reality. It’s the strength to admit mistakes, and the strength to change your mind. Self-confidence is what it takes to be on the right side of right. Outcome over ego.

Safeguard Strategy 4: Putting in Guardrails Another safeguarding strategy is to formulate operating procedures for yourself because you know from hard experience when your defaults tend to override your decision-making. The defaults prevent us from seeing what’s actually happening and from responding in ways aligned with our best self-image.

the stop, flop, know principle: Stop gathering more information and execute your decision when either you Stop gathering useful information, you First Lose an OPportunity (FLOP), or you come to Know something that makes it evident what option you should choose.

The best decision-makers know that the way we define a problem shapes everyone’s perspective about it and determines the solutions. The most critical step in any decision-making process is to get the problem right.

Remember, the rationale behind the ALAP Principle is to preserve optionality. When options start diminishing, it’s time to act using whatever information you have. That’s FLOP: if you’re waiting to decide, wait no longer than your First Lost Opportunity.

Comparison is the thief of joy.

When the cost of a mistake is low, move fast.

the bad outcome principle: Don’t just imagine the ideal future outcome. Imagine the things that could go wrong and how you’ll overcome them if they do.

safeguard: Come up with Both-And options. Try to find ways of combining the binary. Think not in terms of choosing either X or Y, but rather having both X and Y.

Remember: Limiting ourselves to binary thinking before fully understanding a problem is a dangerous simplification that creates blind spots. False dualities prevent you from seeing alternative paths and other information that might change your mind. On the other hand, taking away one of two clear options forces you to reframe the problem and get un