The single decisive reason (SDR)

According to Nassim Taleb, when you give yourself multiple justifications to do something, you're trying to convince yourself to do it.

That can be deciding to stay in a relationship or book that holiday or take a job offer. I'm sure you've been there.

When you have a myriad of reasons to do something, you think they build onto each other into something compelling. This is a trick of the mind. If the decision is obvious, it's strong.

You want to have obvious reasons to do something. If you don't you're exposing yourself to real risks.

• In a product context - what's the core value proposition? Is there one?
• In a relationship context - What single reason am I with this person.
• With a job offer - what single reason is there to take the job?

Asking yourself for the Single Decisive Reason (SDR) is a simple yet powerful criteria by which to combat overthinking and reduce the chances of being tricked by the number of reasons to do something!