The Stopping Rule
A one-line pre-commitment you write at the startof a decision, before you gather anything, while you can still think about it clearly. You set it now so the anxious, end-of-decision version of you doesn’t get to renegotiate it later.
Fill this in before you begin gathering information
I will decide by (the deadline, set by what this decision is actually worth)
once I have: (the specific, finite list of things you genuinely need to know to decide well — not everything you could possibly learn)
regardless of what else turns up.
A worked example
“I will decide on the vendor by Thursday at noon, once I have talked to two reference customers and confirmed the price holds for the full contract term, regardless of what else turns up.”
The chapter pairs it with the “Enough?” Checklist — five questions for the moment you catch yourself wanting to check one more thing.