Options: "What to choose?" Made Simpler

Let's Make Decisions Simpler Together

Hey everyone!

I’m starting a new line of audio notes / “podcasting” to help us all make decisions with less stress. “Decisions on what?”, you ask? Almost anything, but there will be a focus on consumption, purchases, and general day-to-day decisions.

Although my approach to decision analysis is simple, it’s based on mathematical (multi-objective) optimization:

1. What are my goal(s)? For example:

   1. Buy the cheapest coffee, while supporting struggling economies

   2. Maximize ROI while minimizing stress

   3. Select the educational program which maximizes my employability in finance

2. What are my limits or constraints? Examples:

   1. Can only spend $4.00 or less, and can’t be further than 1mi. walking

   2. I only have $5,000 to spend

   3. My GPA is less than 3.5, and I can’t leave the NYC area, and I want a job at a bank

3. And what are the simplest first steps to take to accomplish that? E.g.,

   1. Just go to Partner’s Coffee down the street

   2. Spend $1,000 the S&P on the next dip, save the rest for the right time

   3. Find target companies on LinkedIn, and see where they tend to hire from

My plan is to keep these short and sweet—no (super) long episodes here! I’ll share my thoughts in writing and audio, with a focus on letting you know what you shouldn’t care about. I want to make decisions easier and clearer so there’s no need to second-guess or stress.

At some point, I’ll begin to take these to absurdity and set each of these decisions up as actual math problems to solve, then solve them. For now, don’t worry about it… or anything.

I’ll be doing this whether it’s just a handful of people or a whole crew, but it’d be awesome to have you along for.