Most Doors Swing Both Ways

There is a peculiar paralysis that afflicts intelligent people. They gather information, weigh options, consider consequences, and then gather more information. Six months pass. The opportunity closes. They tell themselves they were being thorough, strategic, careful. What they were actually being was afraid.

Jeff Bezos recognised this pattern at Amazon and gave it a name. He divided decisions into two categories: Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 decisions are one-way doors. Once you walk through, you cannot come back, or the cost of return is severe. Type 2 decisions are two-way doors. You can walk through, look around, and if you hate what you see, walk right back out.

The insight seems obvious once stated. But here is where it gets interesting. Most people, particularly smart people with good analytical instincts, treat almost every decision as if it were Type 1. They apply the same rigorous deliberation to taking a new job as they would to selling their company. They agonise over moving cities with the same intensity they should reserve for having children. And in doing so, they confuse caution with wisdom.

The real skill is not in making better decisions. It is in correctly classifying which kind of decision you are facing.