63. Know How You Can Fail

Without an objective criterion set in advance, the mind judges outcomes using mood, attachment, and selectively chosen data. Defining success also defines failure, sharpens the plan, and sometimes reveals that a project or hire should not happen at all. It creates the feedback required to improve the next decision.

Before a consequential action, record the measurable outcome, time horizon, constraints, and conditions that would count as failure. Review against that commitment rather than moving the goalposts. If a criterion is impossible to state, investigate whether the decision itself is still too vague.

Original sketch and model by Paras Chopra. Read the source chapter.