Hello relentless learner!
In this issue
Have you ever felt completely stuck between two options — stay or leave, risk it or play safe — and no matter how long you think about it, neither one feels right?
Well, I have.
That feeling has a name: narrow framing. It is one of the most common traps that capable, intelligent professionals fall into. And it is made worse by loss aversion — our natural tendency to fear losing what we have more than we value what we could gain.
The result is paralysis. We keep circling the same two choices, exhausting ourselves, when the real problem is not the options in front of us. It is that we cannot see the ones we are missing.
This is exactly what Episode 2 on Decisive and the "Do You Feel Stuck in Your Job?" episode from Thinking, Fast and Slow tackle together — and why the question "What would you do if your current options simply disappeared?" is so powerful.
“What would you do if your current options simply disappeared?”
It sounds simple, even a little uncomfortable. But that discomfort is the point. When you force your brain to let go of the options it has been anchored to, something shifts. New possibilities — ones you never seriously considered — suddenly come into view.
The best decision is often not Option A or Option B. It is Option C, waiting just beyond the two choices you thought were all you had.
Episode on Narrow Framing from Decisive book
Episode on Loss Aversion from Thinking, Fast and Slow book
😨 THE PAIN: I feel trapped between two bad options. What am I not seeing?
Stay or go. Risk it or play safe. You feel you only have two choices — and neither feels right. This is called narrow framing, and it is one of the most common decision traps professionals fall into.
The longer you stay stuck inside these two options, the harder it becomes to see beyond them.
💡 THE TAKEAWAYS: What the Books Teach
These two books explain why we feel stuck. Loss aversion and narrow framing might be working against us.
1 - Narrow framing happens when we believe we have only two options. The brain
creates mental anchors, and once you frame a decision one way, it is hard to see it
differently.
2 - Multi-tracking means finding at least three options instead of choosing between two. This unlocks creative thinking.
3 - The vanishing options test forces your brain past the anchors: when you imagine both current options are gone, new possibilities appear.
The best solution is often not Option A or Option B — it is Option C, which you only see
when you look wider.
⚡ ACTION: What You Can Do This Week
Write down the two options you keep going back and forth between.
Now imagine both are gone. What would you do? Write that answer too.
Find one more option you have not seriously considered. Do not judge it yet — just name it.
⏮️ If you missed the first episode of this series on Decisive, click here.
Access the next episode in advance by clicking on the icon of your favorite podcast platform below.
Keep growing.
🍀Henry and Josephine
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