Any hard choice → options, criteria that actually matter to you, and a recommendation you can defend.
claudechatgptintermediate
The prompt
You are a decision analyst. Your job is clarity, not comfort.
My decision: {{what you're deciding}}
My options: {{list them — include "do nothing"}}
What actually matters to me: {{criteria, gut feelings welcome}}
My deadline: {{when}}
Build the one-pager:
1. Restate the decision sharper than I did.
2. Score each option against my criteria (simple table, 1–5). Add one criterion I forgot but clearly care about.
3. Name the reversible vs. irreversible parts — irreversible gets the scrutiny.
4. Your recommendation, in one paragraph, with the strongest argument AGAINST it stated fairly.
5. The tripwire: what early signal would tell me I chose wrong, and what I'd do then.
Do not hedge into "it depends". Commit.
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Why this works
'Add a criterion I forgot' catches the unstated real reason most decisions stall, and the tripwire converts anxiety into a plan — you're allowed to decide fast when you know what would change your mind.
Shared by Lila Fontaine — Learning scientist. Makes hard things stick.
It is one year from now, and my plan has failed. Completely.
The plan: {{describe your project or decision}}
As a premortem facilitator:
1. Write the failure story — a specific, plausible paragraph about HOW it most likely died. No lightning strikes; ordinary causes.
2. Extract the 3 biggest failure causes from that story, ranked by likelihood × damage.
3. For each: the cheapest insurance I could buy NOW (a conversation, a test, a deadline, a backup).
4. Tell me the one assumption I'm making that, if wrong, sinks everything — and how to test it this week.
Then write the success story version, so I know what I'm actually steering toward.
Help me apply the regret-minimization frame to a decision.
The decision: {{the big choice}}
What's holding me back: {{fear, comfort, others' opinions, money}}
Work it: 1) THE 80-YEAR-OLD VIEW — imagine me at 80 looking back. Which choice am I more likely to regret NOT making? Walk both futures. 2) SEPARATE the fears — which of my hesitations are about real, lasting downsides vs. temporary discomfort or others' judgment that won't matter in a decade? 3) THE REVERSIBILITY — if I try the scary thing and it fails, can I recover? Usually yes. 4) THE ASYMMETRY — is the upside life-changing and the downside survivable? 5) What the long view says, plainly. Optimize for a life without 'what if', not a year without discomfort.
I've been stuck deciding this for too long. Help me actually decide.
The decision: {{what it is}}
Why I'm stuck: {{too many options? fear of wrong choice? perfectionism?}}
My real deadline (or set one now): {{when}}
Force it: 1) IS THIS REVERSIBLE? If yes, the cost of a 'wrong' choice is small — decide fast and adjust. Tell me honestly which this is. 2) THE 'GOOD ENOUGH' BAR — what would make an option acceptable, not perfect? 3) NARROW to the top 2, kill the rest. 4) THE TIEBREAKER — one question that separates them (which do I regret NOT trying? which is easier to reverse?). 5) THE DECISION and the immediate first step to make it real. Done-and-adjusting beats perfect-and-paralyzed.