Brief Summary
This video by Sam Ovens provides a framework for making better decisions in life and business. He breaks down the process into three parts: reducing decision load, thinking critically, and applying mental models. The video highlights the importance of simplifying your life, doing your own analysis, and using proven patterns to guide your choices.
- Reduce Decision Load: Simplify your life by making fewer decisions, sacrificing unnecessary activities, and making one-time decisions that eliminate future choices.
- Think Critically: Don't blindly follow the crowd. Do your own analysis, apply core values, and recognize decision patterns.
- Apply Mental Models: Develop a library of mental models, such as defining goals, thinking long-term, projecting decision options, and considering second-order consequences.
Reduce Decision Load
The first step to making better decisions is to reduce the number of decisions you need to make. This is because decisions require energy, and energy is a finite resource. By simplifying your life and making fewer choices, you conserve energy for more important decisions. Sam Ovens suggests five strategies:
- Make Less Decisions: Reduce the number of choices you make in your daily life. This helps combat decision fatigue, which can lead to poor choices when you're mentally exhausted.
- Sacrifice: Learn to say "no" more often. Successful people understand the power of sacrifice and prioritize their goals by eliminating distractions.
- Make One Decision That Removes Future Decisions: Make one-time decisions that eliminate the need for repeated choices. For example, Sam Ovens wears the same type of t-shirt every day, eliminating the daily decision of what to wear.
- Have a Simple Personal Life: Keep your personal life simple to avoid distractions and conserve energy for your business or other important pursuits.
- Limit Surface Area: Reduce the number of ways people can contact you. This minimizes distractions and allows you to focus on your priorities.
Think Critically
Once you've reduced your decision load, you can start thinking critically about the choices you need to make. This involves doing your own analysis and not simply following the crowd. Sam Ovens suggests three key strategies:
- Do Your Own Analysis: Don't just copy what everyone else is doing. Analyze the situation and make your own decisions based on your own judgment.
- Apply Core Values: Develop a set of core values or principles that guide your decisions. This helps you stay true to your beliefs and make choices that align with your mission.
- Look at Decision Patterns: Recognize patterns in decisions that have been made in the past. This can help you identify good and bad patterns and make better choices in the future.
Apply Mental Models
Mental models are frameworks or patterns that can help you make better decisions. Sam Ovens provides eight mental models that he has found helpful in his own life and business:
- Define Goals: Have a clear goal or "North Star" to guide your decisions. This helps you stay focused and make choices that move you towards your desired outcome.
- Think Long-Term: Consider the long-term consequences of your decisions. This helps you avoid short-sighted choices that may lead to negative outcomes in the future.
- Project Decision Options: Visualize the potential outcomes of different decisions. This helps you understand the long-term impact of your choices and make informed decisions.
- Calculate the Half-Life of Decisions: Consider the duration and impact of your decisions. Some decisions have a short half-life and little impact, while others have a long half-life and significant consequences.
- Consider Second-Order Consequences: Think about the downstream effects of your decisions. This helps you avoid choices that may have unintended negative consequences.
- Consider Dependencies and Sequencing: Understand the dependencies between decisions and the optimal sequence for making them. This helps you make choices that build upon each other and lead to a desired outcome.
- Weigh Input/Output Symmetry: Consider the resources you invest in a decision and the value you receive in return. Aim for decisions with a high output relative to the input.
- Consider Risk and Ease of Undo: Evaluate the risk associated with a decision and the ease with which you can undo it if it turns out to be a bad choice.
Counteract Troughs with Inverse Curves
Some decisions may have a negative impact in the short term but a positive impact in the long term. This is known as a "trough." Sam Ovens suggests counteracting troughs with inverse curves. For example, starting a consulting business can provide immediate cash flow, while investing in a software product can have a long-term payoff. By combining these two approaches, you can create a more balanced trajectory for your business.
