Coaching practices for Multiple Explanations Decision Making
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Multiple Explanations Decision Making, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I’m weighing a dozen factors on the same choice I face over and over, and they all blur together
- The first explanation that fits locks in for me and then I stop looking, reading everything afterward as proof I was right
- The grimmest explanation is always the first one I reach for, and I just accept it without ever asking if something else might have caused this
- I’ve built spreadsheets and weighed every angle on this choice and the more I pick it apart the murkier it gets
- I’ve got two stories about why this happened and I keep flip-flopping
Practices that may help
- Use "take the best": choose on your single most informative cue
When choosing between options, identify the most diagnostic cue and use it — stop searching for more.
Simple Heuristics: Gerd Gigerenzer’s Case for Fast and Frugal Thinking - Systematic alternatives: generate three more explanations before deciding
Force yourself to generate at least three alternative explanations or interpretations before committing to the first plausible one.
Lateral Thinking, Made Practical - Generate alternative, more accurate explanations
For any setback, produce at least three competing explanations before settling on one.
Learned Optimism: Seligman’s ABCDE Method - For many decisions, going with your gut outperforms lengthy analysis
Over-explaining reasons for a preference can actually detgrade the quality of affective predictions.
Affect Forecasting: Why You Mispredicted How You’d Feel - Count the assumptions each explanation requires
When two explanations fit the facts, count how many unverified assumptions each one rests on.
Occam’s Razor: Prefer the Simpler Explanation - Diagnose before elaborating
Check the common, simple explanation first before searching for rare or complex ones.
Occam’s Razor: Prefer the Simpler Explanation - Choice Overload, Made Practical
When the number of options exceeds a cognitive threshold, people become less likely to choose, less satisfied with what they chose, and more prone to regret — a phenomenon Barry Schwartz calls the "paradox of choice." Reducing options strategically and adopting a "good enough" standard are the most evidence-supported remedies. - Pre-commit to a hard option limit
Decide in advance how many options you will consider — then stick to that number.
Choice Overload, Made Practical - Trim model complexity
Prefer the simplest model of a situation that still fits all the evidence.
Occam’s Razor: Prefer the Simpler Explanation - Hold multiple maps simultaneously
For complex situations, develop two or three competing models and check which fits better.
The Map Is Not the Territory
Related concerns
- Alternative Explanations Technique
For any setback, produce at least three competing explanations before settling on one.
Generate alternative, more accurate explanations
- Analysis Of Competing Hypotheses
For complex situations, develop two or three competing models and check which fits better.
Hold multiple maps simultaneously
- When Learned Optimism Alternative Explanations
For any setback, produce at least three competing explanations before settling on one.
- When The Map Is Not The Territory Multiple Maps
For complex situations, develop two or three competing models and check which fits better.
- Common Explanation First
Check the common, simple explanation first before searching for rare or complex ones.
Diagnose before elaborating
- How To Evaluate Explanations
For any setback, produce at least three competing explanations before settling on one.
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