Principles as Heuristics

They help us:

• Avoid analysis paralysis
• Make decisions with limited or imperfect information
• Shift complex thinking to a time when we're calm, reflective, and deliberate

A good principle isn't just a slogan—it's a pre-committed way of acting that beats real-time decision-making. It's how we outsource future choices to a more rational version of ourselves.

A good principle produces better outcomes than deciding from scratch each time.

A few traits help define a strong principle—and if you want to test your own, I'll share a tool for that at the end.

The traits:

1. 1. It is effective – It leads to different decisions than we'd otherwise make.
2. 2. It tends to be right – Not perfect, but directionally better.
3. 3. Cheap When Wrong, Expensive When Ignored – When wrong, the costs are low; when right and ignored, the costs are high.

1. 1. It is effective: With limited information, people often appear to be out to get me. Following this principle shifts my reaction.
2. 2. It tends to be right: At work, no one is actually out to get me; I'm usually wrong when I suspect otherwise.
3. 3. Cheap When Wrong, Expensive When Ignored: If I assume positive intent and I'm wrong, not much happens. If I assume ill intent and I'm wrong, trust erodes—and that's much worse.

This principle holds up: it changes behavior, improves outcomes, and carries little downside when wrong.

1. Effectiveness: It Changes Behavior

A principle that doesn't affect your actions is just a belief. Principles become powerful when they redirect us—when, in a moment of uncertainty or tension, they lead us to a different choice than we would have made without them.

Effectiveness means interruption. It's the principle stepping in when your instincts want to run the show. It might remind you to pause, to reframe, to choose a harder path when the easier one is tempting.

The more often a principle is followed, the less it needs to be.

Over time, the decisions it once influenced become automatic. The principle has reshaped your habits, your mindset, your default stance. That's not failure—it's success.

A principle's job is to close the gap between who you are and who you want to be. Once that gap is gone, the principle becomes invisible—like scaffolding after construction.

2. Directional Correctness: It Tends to Improve Outcomes

No principle is right 100% of the time. But a good principle shifts decisions in a direction that's more likely to be beneficial, on average. It's not about perfection—it's about improving the batting average.

A good principle is built from lived experience, careful observation, or tested models. You can feel this when a principle saves you from a bad impulse or protects you from short-term thinking.

Example: "Sleep on big decisions." Not always necessary, but often wise. It introduces friction in a world that rewards speed, and in doing so, often prevents regret.

3. Cheap When Wrong, Expensive When Ignored

This trait separates good principles from dangerous ones.

The principle should act like a safety net: low cost if it fails, high cost if you ignore it when it would have helped. This is what makes principles "safe to default to."

Good principles exploit this asymmetry. They're like good investments: small downside, large potential upside.

Always Tell the Truth

1. 1. It is effective: I mostly tell the truth already. This principle wouldn't shift much.
2. 2. It tends to be right: When I lie, it's usually deliberate and calculated—not impulsive.
3. 3. Cheap When Wrong, Expensive When Ignored: Telling the truth at the wrong time can still damage relationships.

A noble principle, but not a practical rule for me. It neither shifts behavior significantly nor guarantees better outcomes.

Eat More Plants

1. 1. It is effective: I don't naturally prefer plant-based foods. This principle reliably changes my choices.
2. 2. It tends to be right: Eating more plants consistently improves health, energy, and long-term outcomes.
3. 3. Cheap When Wrong, Expensive When Ignored: Even when unnecessary, more plants do little harm. Skipping them has bigger downsides.

This principle scores high: frequent impact, frequent correctness, low-risk failure mode. A strong example of a principle that pays off over time.

If you want a quick way to see how your own principles hold up, I built a simple tool: Pindex.

It helps you evaluate a principle against the same three traits:

• Effectiveness (Does it change your behavior?)
• Correctness (When it changes behavior, is it usually right?)
• Risk Asymmetry (Is it safer to follow than to ignore?)

You'll get an instant rating that helps you decide whether to keep, refine, or discard a principle.

It's not scientific—it's a fast gut-check. Sometimes that's exactly what moves an idea from "interesting" to "actionable."

Principles aren't rigid rules—they're strategic defaults. They let us preload hard-earned wisdom into the chaotic moments where thinking clearly is hardest.

A good principle redirects action, improves outcomes, and protects us from costly mistakes. If we're willing to refine them—testing, retiring, upgrading—they become one of the most powerful tools we have.

Not because they're perfect.
Because they're better than making it up every time.