Benjamin Franklin’s Trick For Making Tough Decisions

I overanalyze everything. All of my major decisions involve multiple conversations with my closest friends and family, pros and cons lists (where my pros often equal my cons, like I can’t help but balance the score to agonize myself further), and plenty of second-guessing whether I made the right choice. Lately, I find myself giving myself a time limit to dwell, making a decision and trying to take action on it immediately, so there’s less waffling.

But a recent article in the New Yorker caught my attention, shedding light on Benjamin Franklin’s process. In the January 21 issue, “Choose Wisely” takes an in-depth look at how we make decisions in general — and questions whether we are truly in charge of the way we change and shape our lives. In it, the author mentions Franklin’s “Prudential Algebra” method for making up his mind. Essentially, it’s a pros and cons list taken a step further — once you’ve listed everything in both columns, you assign a weight to each one, since a single “pro” might be as important to you as three “cons” you’ve listed.

“If I find a Reason pro equal to some two Reasons con, I strike out the three…and thus proceeding I find at length where he Balance lies,” Franklin told a friend, according to the story.

The article mentions that the method’s a little slapdash, and sure, it can oversimplify a big decision, as it tries to wrestle away the emotional baggage that comes with every major “yes” or “no.” It’s hard to reduce a life change to one moment and one list, and as the story states, any major change is often the result of dozens of smaller moments and decisions that led you to this point. But still, if you’re on the fence and need a new perspective, Franklin’s method may be worth a shot.

If you’re anything like me, though, cover up one list as you weigh the other, so you’ll resist the urge of making the two sides almost equal in weight, spinning your indecisive wheels further.

Photo by Vladimir Solomyani on Unsplash