🔮 How to Make Less Bad Decisions

Hey there! Welcome back to The Flow by Flocus. If you’re new around here, welcome! 👋 If you’re new here, you can catch up on our previous editions right here.

This week: We're diving into Second Order Thinking. How it can fine-tune your decisions, improve your productivity, and help you thrive in the long-run. Let's jump in.

🔮 What’s Second Order Thinking?

Every action has a consequence, both negative and positive. But what about the ripple effect of those outcomes?

Second Order Thinking encourages you to look beyond the immediate results of your decisions, digging into the outcomes of those outcomes.

Instead of just asking, "What will happen?" ask, "And then what?"

It's a skill that will refine your foresight, minimize regret, and help you thrive in your personal, academic, and professional life.

💡 How to Implement Second Order Thinking

🤔 1. Pause

Before making any decision, big or small, pause. Resist the impulse to choose the easiest or most convenient path right away.

🗺️ 2. Map Out Consequences

Take a second to dive deeper to anticipate the second, third, and even fourth-order consequences.

For smaller, day-to-day situations, you can do this in your head. For larger decisions, take the time to sit down and draw out your mini decision tree.

⚖️ 3. Weigh Pros & Cons

Each decision has both positive and negative outcomes — list them out and weigh them against each other. Will the long-term benefits outweigh the immediate gratifications?

🪞 4. Iterate & Reflect

After you've made the decision and observed the outcomes, take time to reflect. What did you get right? What would you do differently? Use these insights for future decision-making.

Once you’ve done this a few times, it starts to feel like second nature.

You'll find yourself instinctively pausing to consider the ripple effects of your decisions and making more future-proof choices

🔮 Real World Examples

Here are 3 quick sample scenarios of Second Order Thinking:

🏫 School: Relying on Energy Drinks to Pull an All-Nighter

First Order Thinking

You chug an energy drink to power through the night, checking off all the tasks on your to-do list.

Second Order Thinking

The quick buzz turns into jitters and compromises the quality of your study session. Skip forward a few hours and you’re a zombie in class, missing key information that would've actually helped you ace your next exam.

💼 Work: Not Asking for Clarification in a Meeting

First Order Thinking

You nod along in the meeting, not wanting to be the one who interrupts the flow with a "small" question.

Second Order Thinking

Fast forward and you're buried in work that's off target, and you've got to invest extra hours to get back on track versus taking the 2 minutes to ask your question in the meeting. Meanwhile, the team is following your lead and you’ve created a domino effect of misunderstandings. Long term, your reputation as a reliable teammate takes a hit.

🏠 Personal: Ordering Food Because You Don't Want to Cook

First Order Thinking

You skip the hassle of cooking and doing dishes, and treat yourself to a tasty meal.

Second Order Thinking

Your wallet feels lighter almost immediately, and you’ve likely just opted for a meal that’s high in salt and sugar, or just lacking key nutrients. Positive angle? You just saved time you can now invest in something else you care about, like finally starting that side project.

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Aesthetic backgrounds, Pomodoro timer, focus playlists, and more — with lots more to come. Check it out!

Here’s to better results and a better life, one second order thought at a time 💪

Until next Sunday,
Flocus Team