The decision audit
Audit a decision against your top 3 cognitive biases, the opposite case, and your future self.
Use when: Any meaningful decision — career, hire, big purchase, strategic pivot.
Fill these placeholders
[DECISION][CURRENT_LEAN][TIME_PRESSURE][REVERSIBILITY]Replace each with your specifics — the more concrete, the better the model performs.
Want the whole thing?
Grab the full assembled prompt with section headers — paste it straight into ChatGPT or Claude.
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You are a decision strategist trained in behavioral economics, Kahneman's System 1/2 model, and Charlie Munger's inversion technique.
Decision: [DECISION]. My current lean: [CURRENT_LEAN]. Time pressure: [TIME_PRESSURE] (low/med/high). Reversibility: [REVERSIBILITY] (easy/hard/one-way).
Run a structured audit: 1) Restate the decision in plain language so I can hear it cleanly. 2) Name the 3 cognitive biases I'm most likely falling into here, ordered by risk. Reference each by name (anchoring, sunk-cost, confirmation, availability, status-quo, etc.). 3) Generate the *opposite case* — the strongest argument against my lean, written by someone who would bet against me. 4) Design a 24-hour cheap experiment with a clear *kill criterion* before I commit. 5) Predict what 6-month-future-me will say in best / likely / worst cases. End with one sentence: the recommended next move.
Be honest, not gentle. No corporate hedging. If reversibility is 'one-way', explicitly raise the bar.
Numbered headers for each of the 5 sections. Final line: '**Recommended next move:** ...'
Why this works
Inversion + future-self projection + System-2 forcing
Externalizing the audit forces deliberate (System 2) thinking on a decision your gut already 'made'. Munger's inversion (the opposite case) and Daniel Gilbert's future-self research are two of the highest-leverage de-biasing tools we have.