When making a tough decision, it is easy to become myopic:
- Either you invest in index funds or you put all your money in savings
- Either you quit your job or you don’t
- Either you go out to meet girls at clubs or you don’t do anything
- Either you workout 3x / week or you do nothing
At these points, it can pay dividends to consciously expand your scope
- Are there any other options you’re not seeing?
- What have people in your position done before?
- What do your mentors and friends think you should do?
- What if you couldn’t do what you were thinking, what else could you do?
When you have only one option, it makes a lot of sense to convince yourself it’s amazing. However, if you widen the road you can take, you can see much more alternatives, with a much higher degree of variance.