A key to accessing more of life’s asymmetry:

Where are you using Type 1 thinking, when you should be using Type 2?

Here’s something you might be familiar with:

Some decisions are consequential and irreversible - life’s one way doors.

These decisions must be made methodically, carefully, slowly, with great deliberation and consultation. Type 1 decisions. Type 1 thinking

But, most decisions aren’t like that – they're changeable, reversible – they’re two-way doors.

If you’ve made a suboptimal Type 2 decision, you don’t have to live with the consequences for that long. You can reopen the door and go back through.

Type 2 decisions can and should be made quickly with good judgment. Good judgement is the key between recklessness and true opportunity.

But here’s something you might not have thought about:

As individuals get “smarter,” as organizations get larger, and you become older, there’s a tendency to use the heavy-weight Type 1 decision-making process on most decisions, including many Type 2 decisions.

The end result of this is slowness, unthoughtful risk aversion, failure to experiment sufficiently, and consequently diminished invention.

Even worse, defaulting to Type 1 often results in outright inaction.

Do not mistake this as a call for action for action’s sake. But ask, where are YOU using Type 1 thinking, when you should be using Type 2?

How can you improve by seizing more low consequence, high payoff opportunities?

A quick way to develop... A tweet for thought!

Finally, to make this more practical, a few areas come to mind:

In investing: modeling, exit decisions (fxn of liquidity), deciding where to spend your research time

In life: going on a first date, reaching out to others, reading a new book, taking a class, etc.