Day 12: Make Decisions Without Going in Circles
The Concept
Decisions feel stuck not usually because you lack information, but because you are holding too many variables in your head at once. When everything is swirling without structure, it is easy to return to the same considerations repeatedly without making progress. You have thought about it. You have thought about it again. You are still in the same place.
The problem is not a shortage of thinking. It is that the thinking is unstructured, and unstructured thinking tends to circle rather than progress. The same considerations keep returning because there is no structure to resolve them — they just recur until exhaustion or a deadline forces a call.
What AI can and cannot do for a stuck decision
AI cannot tell you what to decide. It does not know your values, your circumstances, your relationships, or the things that matter to you in ways only you understand. Any advice that claims to be personalised without knowing these things is generic guidance dressed up as something more. The final call belongs to you — and it should, because you are the one who lives with the consequences.
What AI can do is give you structure. It can take the situation you describe and return a clear map of your options, the likely trade-offs of each, the criteria you might not have articulated, and the questions worth answering before you commit. Having this map does not make the decision for you — but it makes the decision significantly clearer.
Three things AI does well for decisions
Options mapping is the first. Describe the decision and ask AI to list all viable options, including ones you might not have considered. It often returns one or two that are genuinely useful additions.
Trade-off surfacing is the second. Ask AI to compare your leading options across a set of criteria — cost, time, risk, reversibility, impact on others. Having these laid out clearly makes comparison much simpler than holding everything in your head simultaneously.
Devil's advocate is the third, and often the most valuable. Tell AI which option you are currently leaning toward and ask it to make the strongest possible case against that choice. This is not about changing your mind — it is about ensuring you have genuinely examined the downsides before committing, not just the attractions.
What you do with the output
The output is a structured picture of your decision, not the decision itself. After AI has mapped the options and surfaced the trade-offs, the final call is entirely yours. What AI gives you is the clearest possible view of the landscape. What you bring is everything AI does not know — your values, your circumstances, your sense of what matters most.
Prompt of the day
Copy this into your AI tool and replace any bracketed placeholders.
Prompt
I am trying to make a decision and want help thinking it through clearly. Here is the situation: [DESCRIBE THE DECISION YOU ARE FACING]. My main options are: [LIST 2-3 OPTIONS]. The things that matter most to me in this decision are: [LIST YOUR KEY CRITERIA — e.g. cost, time, impact on others, reversibility]. Please: 1) Map out the likely trade-offs of each option against my criteria. 2) Flag any option I may not have considered. 3) Tell me which questions I should answer before I decide. 4) Play devil's advocate for whichever option I seem to be leaning toward.
Your 15-minute task
Take one decision you have been circling without resolving — personal or professional. Fill in the brackets honestly, including the criteria that actually matter to you. Run the prompt. Notice whether AI surfaces any trade-offs or options you had not considered.
Expected win
A structured picture of a decision you have been stuck on — with options mapped, trade-offs visible, and the questions worth answering before you commit.
Power user tip
After seeing the trade-off map, tell AI: 'I am leaning toward [OPTION]. Make the strongest possible case against it.' Hearing the counterargument clearly often either strengthens your conviction or reveals something you had not fully examined.