Two-Way Doors and One-Way Doors

Most decisions don’t deserve the time we give them. And a few deserve far more.

Over the years, I’ve relied on a simple filter for decision-making, inspired by a very popular heuristic from Jeff Bezos.

Is it reversible or irreversible?

If it’s a reversible decision, a two-way door, I move fast.
I don’t overthink. I don’t wait for perfect clarity. I decide and move.

Why? Because the cost of being wrong is limited.
If things don’t work out, I can step back, adjust, or reverse course.

Speed, in these situations, compounds.
You accumulate learning. You build momentum. You get sharper with every iteration.

But if it’s an irreversible decision, a one-way door, the game changes.
Now, speed becomes a risk.

These are decisions you can’t easily unwind. The cost of getting it wrong is high.

So here, I slow down. I seek more inputs. I think through second-order consequences. I give the decision the respect it deserves.

The mistake many of us make is treating all decisions the same.
We move too slowly on decisions that are easily reversible.

And sometimes, we rush through decisions that we will have to live with for a very long time.

Clarity is not about deciding faster or slower.
It is about knowing when to move fast and when to slow down.