Revolving Doors, Tattoos and Decisions.

#frameworks

An important part of being able to move fast or knowing when to slow down is to really understand the types of decisions you are confronting.

If I have a decision to make, I try to break it into a Type 1 or Type 2 decision.

Type 1: 🔐
Is this is a one way decision where there is no coming back ( or it’s really hard to come back from)? This is a permanent or long term decision. Think of a door that locks behind you when you walk through it. Or like getting a tattoo on your body. There’s no coming back.

Type 2: 💈
Is this a decisions where it is very simple to come back and try something different? More like a revolving door that I can easily walk through again. . Or like getting a haircut.

Type 1 decision means thinking long and hard, doing research, plan for different scenarios, etc. It also often means making the decision myself so I’m aware of the consequences and can feel comfortable with the thinking before the decision.

For Type 2 decisions I’m happy to just wing it and see what happens. I can always come back later and try again if I need to. The door will open for me again. And my hair will grow back. These are also the kinds of decisions I’m happy to delegate because even if the decider is wrong, it’s not the end of the world.

Sources:

• The door analogy is from a shareholder letter than Jeff Bezos wrote at some point.
• James Clear presents the Tattoo / Haircut analogy in Atomic Habits.

There’s a good write up on both these ideas here and James Clear did a write up LinkedIn here