Smart Choices

CHAPTER 2

Problem

YOU CAN MAKE A WELL-CONSIDERED, well-thought-out decision, but if you’ve started from the wrong place—with the wrong decision problem—you won’t have made the smart choice. The way you state your problem frames your decision. It determines the alternatives you consider and the way you evaluate them. Posing the right problem drives everything else.

You’re planning to move to a new city, and you need to find an unfurnished apartment to rent. So your decision problem seems straightforward: Which apartment should I choose? But is it really so simple? Maybe it would actually be in your best interest to rent a house, not an apartment. Or maybe you should put your belongings into short-term storage and rent a furnished apartment ...