The T Solution

The more critical the decision, the more it should be made for sensible reasons. But unless your decision making process is fairly cleancut and streamlined, you can find yourself in a “paralysis by analysis” doom loop. So what we need is a simple, tried and tested method to help make solid yet efficient decisions.

For cases where I need a structure which is effective without being overly complex, I like the T Ledger. It’s so called because it’s a simple as drawing a large T on any scrap of paper, effectively dividing the paper into three parts: a left column, a right column, and a title space at the top.

At the top, above the left column, write “Yes”, and above the right column, write “No”. You can just as easily write “For” and “Against”, or “Pro” and “Con”. If you’re trying to decide who to hire as a new colleague, you could have one T Ledger for Susan and one for Ingrid so that you can compare the results graphically side by side. Ditto for deciding whether to buy 457 Echo Street or 29 Clippersham Avenue.

For my first two years in law school I sat on Student Council. It was kind of fun, and it gave me access to a tiny private office near the coffee machines. At the end of second year it was suggested that I stand for President. There was one other candidate, and I was pretty sure I would get more support than he could, and unless I did something stupid or obnoxious, the election was probably mine. The temptation was huge, but as it turned out, for all the wrong reasons.

My ego said, “Go for it!” but my sensible inner voice kept telling me to step back and think it through. So I drew up a little T Ledger and wrote “President” as the title, with “Negatives” on the left and “Positives” on the right. On the right I entered “prestige”, then “looks good on a resume”, and after that I couldn’t think of much more, if I was being honest with myself.

But on the left hand side, the ledger filled up quickly: “onerous time commitment”, “make enemies as well as friends”, “who really cares in ten years?”, “possible negative impact on grades”, “is this really making a difference that matters?”… and then the one that probably settled it for me “James wants it so bad he can taste it, and I don’t”. Although my potential opponent was not a close friend, I wondered if crushing his dreams was a fair price for getting a position I didn’t really care about one way or another. For me this would have been a “fun thing”, but he had big political dreams, and for him this was an important stepping stone.

In that time and place, the T Ledger quickly made clear that there were few reasons to run, many reasons not to run. So I stepped away and concentrated on my studies, and graduated with a very satisfactory grade and a bunch of prizes. And James served well as President and went on to bigger and better things, eventually entering politics.

There are many decisions I’ve regretted in life, but that wasn’t one of them. Had I listened to my impulsive ego without the structured analysis of the T Ledger, I probably would have had the position for a year and ended up with a “so what?” on my resume, and at cost of taking something precious away from someone else.

There’s something about getting your swirling, conflicting thoughts out of your head and onto a piece of paper. Most often it becomes pretty clear, pretty early, that one choice makes much more sense than the other. It does a lot to deliver you from the anxiety-inducing “I wonder what would have happened if I had done X instead of Y?” syndrome. It also equips you to defend your decision when questioned.

A simple sheet of paper and a pen. That’s it. Try it!