AI Prompts for Decision Making

Prompts for comparing options, listing trade-offs, finding blind spots, checking assumptions, and making clearer decisions.

Who These Prompts Are For

Professionals, founders, freelancers, managers, and students facing decisions. These prompts help you compare options, weigh trade-offs, find blind spots, check assumptions, and choose a next step, clearly, without going in circles.

How to Use These Prompts

Copy any prompt into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or another AI tool. Replace placeholders like [decision] and [options]. Frame the question neutrally so you get honest analysis, not flattery. The decision is yours, use these to think better.

Option Comparison Prompts

Compare options:

Help me compare my options for this decision: [describe the decision].

The options: [list them]. What matters to me: [criteria — cost, time, risk, etc.].

For each option, lay out how it does on each criterion, plus its main pros and cons. Output as a comparison table, then a short read on which fits my priorities. Don't decide for me — clarify.

Weigh a yes/no decision:

I'm deciding whether to [do X]. Context: [describe the situation and what's at stake].

Lay out the case for and against, the likely outcomes of each path, and the key factors I should weigh. Be balanced. End with the questions I should answer to decide.

Score options against criteria:

I have these options: [list]. My decision criteria, in rough priority: [list].

Score each option against each criterion (simple scale), total them, and show the result. Then add a caveat about what the numbers might miss. This is to inform my judgment, not replace it.

Trade-Off Prompts

List trade-offs:

For this decision [describe], lay out the real trade-offs.

For each option: what I gain, what I give up, and the second-order effects I might not be thinking about. Be honest about the costs, not just the benefits.

Find the hidden costs:

I'm leaning toward [option] for [decision]. 

What are the hidden costs, downstream consequences, and things that look fine now but could bite later? Help me see the full picture before I commit.

Blind Spot Prompts

Find blind spots:

Here's a decision I'm about to make: [describe my plan/choice].

Play devil's advocate: what am I not considering, what could go wrong, whose perspective am I missing, and what would someone who disagrees say? Be direct — I want the blind spots, not reassurance.

Stress-test a decision:

I've decided to [describe the decision]. 

Pressure-test it: under what conditions would this be the wrong call? What assumptions does it rely on? What's the worst realistic outcome and how would I recover? Help me decide if it still holds up.

Assumption Check Prompts

Check my assumptions:

Here's my reasoning for [decision]: [explain your thinking].

Identify the assumptions I'm making — stated and unstated. For each, note how confident I should be and how I could verify it. Flag any assumption that, if wrong, would change the decision.

Separate facts from beliefs:

Here's how I'm thinking about [situation/decision]: [describe].

Sort what I've said into: facts (verifiable), assumptions (unverified), and opinions. Point out where I'm treating an assumption like a fact. This helps me see what I actually know.

Next Step Prompts

Define decision criteria:

I need to make this decision: [describe], but I'm not sure how to judge the options.

Help me define clear criteria: what would make a good outcome, what to prioritize, and what dealbreakers exist. Once I have the criteria, the decision usually gets easier.

Choose a next step:

I've been going back and forth on [decision]. Here's where I'm at: [describe].

Help me find the smallest concrete next step that moves me forward or gives me information to decide — without over-committing. Sometimes the answer is a test, not a final choice. Suggest one.