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MENTAL MODEL · M0884

Decision Journal

Decision Journal
DecidemediumDecision Science
Included
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

When making significant decisions, record at the time: 1. The decision content; 2. The reasons; 3. The expected outcome; 4. The emotional state at the time.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Counter hindsight bias. The human brain constantly alters memories, making us feel we 'knew it all along.' A decision journal is the only tool to objectively review decision quality and calibrate intuition.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

The brain alters memories after the fact ("I knew it all along"), distorting reviews. Recording the content, reasons, expectations, and emotions at the time of the decision creates an objective archive, enabling future comparison of 'expected vs. actual' to calibrate intuition and judgment quality. The mechanism is 'externalizing memory to prevent hindsight bias.'

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

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    fs.bloghttps://fs.blog/decision-journal/ZH · Explicit
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