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What am I giving up by doing this?

Saying yes to something when your capacity is already full.

Longopportunity-costprioritisation
Frame this decision in terms of what it costs me, not what it gains me.

1. What specifically gets displaced if I do this: what time, money, attention, or team capacity is already spoken for?
2. What is the best alternative use of those same resources? Name it concretely, not as "something else".
3. Compare this option directly against that alternative, not against doing nothing. Doing nothing is rarely the real comparison.
4. What does this close off that I cannot get back later, and what stays available?
5. Verdict: is this worth its cost, given the alternative? Give me a yes or a no, and say what would flip it.

What I am considering:


What is already on my plate:

Making it yours

  • Paste your own material where the prompt asks for it. Everything above that line is instruction, not content.
  • Delete any rule that does not apply to you. A shorter prompt that fits beats a thorough one that does not.
  • If the answer comes back vague, add a line saying what you do not want. Constraints work better than encouragement.

Deciding under pressure. Making the call when time is short, information is missing, or your capacity is already full.

Related prompts

Decide well under time pressureA real deadline, and not enough time for the analysis you would prefer.Decide with information I do not haveWhen the missing information may never arrive and the decision still has to be made.Break this into smaller betsA big commitment that could be a sequence of cheaper ones.Pick one of these twoTwo options, roughly equal, and a decision that is overdue.Run a pre-mortem on this planBefore committing to a plan that people are already enthusiastic about.Argue hard against the option I pickedWhen you have already chosen and want the case against before you announce it.

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