Risk-takers decide faster
I wrote this to test ChatGTP Canvas. The friction log for it is here.
People comfortable with risk make faster decisions. It seems obvious, but it only clicked for me recently while reading Guiding Creative Talent.
People often say, "I need time to think" or "I need more information" but usually, it's just fear of risks they already understand. They end up deciding much later without new insights or information. "I need time to worry" would be more accurate.
If you're stuck, take action to bound the risk—research, talk to someone, make a plan. But people with low action bias often sit idle until they feel ready.
Consider this 2x2:
| Avoids Risk | Accepts Risk | |
|---|---|---|
| Low Bias to Action | Fears risk but takes no action. Stuck. | Decides quickly without bounding the risk |
| High Bias to Action | Works endlessly to reduce risk before acting | Reduces risk and decides efficiently |
- If you have low bias to action and avoid risk (top-left), you are worse off than the careless risk-taker (top-right). The careless risk-taker reached the decision without delay.
- For the same bias to action, risk-takers decide faster than risk-avoiders
If you're stuck, ask yourself: "What do I need to know to decide right now?" If no easy answer comes to mind, you already have all the information you'll have. If you still can't decide, you are probably just afraid.
Here is a fantastic response from Andy Matuschak (thank you!):
I think this is generally right, but I want to offer a point of disagreement. Sometimes when I’m stuck, I don’t know the answer to “what do I need to know?”, but there is a real instinct that something is wrong with my framing of the decision, or with the “obvious choice”.
Giving it more time really is “more time to worry”, but there’s a constructive element: in conversation or journaling or reflection over the next few days, that may “shake the snowglobe” of my mind enough to reveal another consideration, or a better frame. If not, then the extra days of worrying build confidence that no easy resolution to the unease is available. Whereas if I make the decision right away, I foreclose on the possibility that the stochastic jostling of the universe may reveal insight to me in the short term.