How To Decide

Simple Tools for Making Better Choices

Annie Duke

Book Synopsis

"How To Decide" by Annie Duke is a practical guide that teaches readers how to make better decisions in their personal and professional lives. Drawing from her background as a professional poker player and expert in decision strategy, Duke shares valuable insights on how to effectively navigate the uncertainty and complexity of decision-making.

In this book, Duke explores various cognitive biases that often cloud our judgment and provides practical exercises to help readers overcome them. She emphasizes the importance of understanding the difference between the quality of a decision and its outcome, challenging the commonly held notion that good decisions always lead to positive outcomes.

Duke introduces the concept of resulting, which is the tendency to judge a decision based on its outcome rather than the decision-making process itself. She highlights the dangers of resulting and teaches readers how to evaluate decisions based on their quality, while embracing uncertainty and understanding that even good decisions can sometimes lead to undesirable outcomes.

Through engaging anecdotes and real-life examples, Duke demystifies decision-making and introduces a framework called "decision fitness" to help readers develop a more productive decision-making process. She explores topics such as the power of reframing, the role of emotions, and the importance of seeking diverse perspectives while making decisions.

"How To Decide" provides readers with practical strategies and tools to improve their decision-making skills, enabling them to become more confident and effective decision-makers in all areas of life. Whether faced with everyday choices or complex dilemmas, this book equips readers with the knowledge and mindset needed to make better, more informed decisions for themselves and for their organizations.

Explore More Books

See All
Well
Toussaint Louverture
Diaspora
Six Easy Pieces
Kingpin
The Undoing Project
Wake Up to the Joy of You
Carry on, Jeeves
Kelly
Where Mountains Roar
Where Wizards Stay Up Late
Uncommon Measure
One Hundred Years of Solitude
The Right Call
Crossing the Chasm
Anthropic Bias
Intellectuals and Race
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
From Headless Chicken to Golden Goose
Talent
Forged in Crisis
The Viral Storm
Tent Life in Siberia
Lying
Essays and Lectures
The French Revolution and What Went Wrong
Diffusion of Innovations
Steve Jobs & The NeXT Big Thing
The Plant Paradox
The Kite Runner
The Origin of Wealth
How Nature Works
On The Move
Scale
Little Leaders
Fahrenheit 451
Burn
King, Warrior, Magician, Lover
The Dragons of Eden
Law, Legislation, and Liberty
The Closing of the American Mind
Fortune's Formula
How Will You Measure Your Life?
Shantaram
Architects of the Web
The Innovators Dilemma
The Great Revolt
Diaminds
Our Final Invention
Layered Money
The Marked Children
On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right When You're Not
The Fabric of Reality
Right Thing, Right Now
The Essential Scratch & Sniff Guide to Becoming a Whiskey Know-It-All
Mohammed and Charlemagne
The Ambiguities of Experience
Failing Forward
Total Freedom
The Hunger Games
Academically Adrift
American Exceptionalism
The Red Queen
Educated
Leadership the Outward Bound Way
Pandemic 1918
The Persian Expedition
Simple Rules
Empire
The Dog Stars
Dynasty
Competing in the Age of AI
More Heat Than Light
The Course of Love
A Mathematician's Lament
Waking Up
The Back of the Napkin
Glass
Masters of Doom
Success
The Coming Wave
Exponential Organizations
Pasture Perfect
The Robotics Primer
The Martians of Science
This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends
Rainbows End
Obsession
The Compleat Strategyst
All The Light We Cannot See
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln
The Passage of Power
Eating The Big Fish
Plants of the Gods
The Accidental Universe
Permaculture: A Designer's Manual
Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar
The Man Who Knew Infinity
Ordinary Men