Hey — Michael here.

Quick update: Starting next month, I'm launching a paid tier. More detailed walkthroughs. Building apps. Actually integrating AI into your workflow (regardless of your job).

More on that soon.

For now — let's get into it.

Spoiler: It's not by thinking harder.

Here's a stat that might piss you off...

People who obsessively search for the "perfect" decision are more depressed. Less satisfied with life. And here's the kicker — they don't even make better choices.

This isn't some self-help guru saying it. Nobel Prize-winning research. Thousands of participants.

Trying to optimize every decision is making you miserable. And it's not even working.

Analysis paralysis isn't a character flaw. It's three bugs in your operating system:

Loss aversion. Potential downsides feel twice as painful as equivalent gains. So you freeze.

Status quo bias. Doing nothing feels safe. It's not. But it feels that way.

Affective forecasting errors. Fancy way of saying you're terrible at predicting how you'll actually feel about outcomes. That regret you're afraid of? Probably won't hit as hard as you think.

Good news: Once you see the bugs, you can work around them.

Herbert Simon won the Nobel Prize for this. He called it "satisficing" — a mashup of satisfy and suffice.

The approach: Define what "good enough" looks like before you start searching. Find something that meets that bar. Stop looking.

Sounds like settling?

Here's what the research shows: People who satisfice are happier, less anxious, and more satisfied with their choices than people who exhaustively search for "the best."

Why? Maximizers set impossible expectations. They can't stop comparing. More effort. More disappointment.

Satisficers judge outcomes against their own standards. Not against what everyone else chose.

Try this: Before any decision, write down your "good enough" criteria. Stop at the first option that hits them. Don't check "just one more."

The famous jam study proved this at scale. When options dropped from 24 to 6, purchases jumped 10x.

More choices = more paralysis.

Jeff Bezos uses this framework for every decision at Amazon.

Two-way doors: Reversible. If it's wrong, you walk back through. Make these fast — with maybe 70% of the info you'd like.

One-way doors: Irreversible. These deserve real thought.

Here's the insight: Most decisions are two-way doors that feel like one-way doors.

That job change? Probably reversible.

That business experiment? Definitely reversible.

That relationship decision? More reversible than your anxiety is telling you.

And here's something wild: Irreversible decisions actually make us happier than reversible ones.

When you can't go back, your brain stops second-guessing. It finds the silver linings. It moves on.

Keeping options open sounds good. In practice, it keeps the doubt alive.

Try this: Before deliberating, ask: "What's the actual cost to reverse this?" If it's a two-way door, set a 15-minute timer. Decide. Move on.

AI gets smarter when your input is complete. Wispr Flow helps you think out loud and capture full context by voice, then turns that speech into a clean, structured prompt you can paste into ChatGPT, Claude, or any assistant. No more chopping up thoughts into typed paragraphs. Preserve constraints, examples, edge cases, and tone by speaking them once. The result is faster iteration, more precise outputs, and less time re-prompting. Try Wispr Flow for AI or see a 30-second demo.

Start flowing free

The intuition vs. analysis debate has a scientific answer: It depends.

Trust your gut when:

Firefighters make 87% of critical decisions through pattern recognition. Most take under 60 seconds. They're not analyzing pros and cons — they're recognizing the situation and acting.

Analyze when:

Here's the trap: More analysis in areas where you have expertise often makes outcomes worse.

Chess masters don't improve with more thinking time.

Try this: If you have real experience and the situation feels familiar, trust your first instinct. If it's genuinely new territory, gather key info — then do something else for a bit. Let your unconscious work on it.

Research finding that should change how you think:

84% of people's biggest long-term regrets are about things they didn't do.

Not the failures. Not the mistakes. The missed opportunities.

Short term — action and inaction regrets feel similar. But over time, the sting of failed attempts fades. The regret of never trying grows.

Actions generate closure. You rationalize, learn, move on.

Inaction leaves wounds open. You imagine what might have been forever.

Regret Minimization Framework

This is how Bezos decided to leave his hedge fund VP job to start Amazon.

Project yourself to age 80. Ask: "Will I regret not doing this?"

He realized he wouldn't regret trying and failing. He'd regret never trying.

10-10-10 Rule

Three questions:

What feels agonizing now usually becomes trivial from a few months out.

Try this: When paralyzed, invoke your 80-year-old self. What would they advise? Write out your worst-case scenario explicitly. Named fears are less powerful than vague anxieties.

And honestly? Most worst cases are survivable.

Implementation intentions are one of the most validated techniques in behavioral psychology.

The format: "When [specific situation] occurs, then I will [specific action]."

Example: "When it's Friday at 5pm and I haven't decided, then I will accept the offer and email them."

This removes the decision from the moment of action. You've already decided. The choice becomes automatic.

Research shows completion rates triple with this approach.

Time constraints work too.

Parkinson's Law is real: Work expands to fill available time. Give yourself less time. The constraint creates focus.

Try this:

For most decisions, speed and commitment matter more than analysis and optimization.

Satisficers are happier than maximizers.

Fast decision-makers outperform slow ones.

Irreversible choices generate more satisfaction than reversible ones.

Long-term regrets cluster around inaction, not action.

The decision you're agonizing over? Probably more reversible than it feels. The regret you're avoiding? Probably smaller than you predict. The cost of continued inaction? Probably higher than you've calculated.

The path out of analysis paralysis isn't better analysis.

It's understanding that action itself is usually the better choice.

Twitter dropped X Articles. People have been dropping knowledge. Here are 4 that stood out to me:

Why Your Messages Go Unanswered (It's Not That You Don't Care)

Most messages don't go unanswered because we don't care. They go unanswered because starting from a blank page is exhausting.

Reacting to a draft? Easy.

This piece breaks down how using AI as a first draft — not autopilot — can wipe out message anxiety, clear your inbox, and quietly save relationships.

Read it here

Stop Obsessing Over Hacks. Do the Basics.

Real transformation comes from doing the basics consistently. Not obsessing over routines and micro-optimizations.

Train hard. Get lean. Protect your attention. Stack small wins.

Confidence, attractiveness, success — they become natural byproducts. Stop overthinking. Let results compound.

Read it here

Turn a Niche Audience Into a Multi-Million Dollar Business

Step-by-step framework for building without VC funding.

Own a specific niche. Drive organic traffic. Convert a small percentage into leads. Monetize early. Reinvest profits to scale paid acquisition.

Compounding lead gen, community trust, and tiered subscriptions can turn a simple content engine into a cash-flowing business worth tens of millions.

Read it here

Why Buying Options Is a Losing Game

Low win rates and time decay work against traders. Selling options flips the odds in your favor.

Cash-secured puts. Selective long-term LEAPs. Defined-risk credit spreads.

Consistent income. Higher probabilities. Less stress. Let time work for you instead of trying to predict perfect market moves.

Read it here

That's it for this week.

See you next time.

— Michael

I get asked the same questions a lot. Here's where I'd point you:

Want to talk shop? I interview founders on the podcast. No fluff, just real conversations about what's working. If that's you, let's chat.

Emails not converting? The team at Benatar Brands has helped my clients add 30-40% to their revenue just by fixing their email flows. Worth a call if you're leaving money on the table.

Need help but can't afford Bay Area rates? AssistantHub finds growth talent overseas at 40-80% less. I've seen the hires. They're legit.

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