> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.mindovermoney.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Steal My Prompt Vol. 53: The Major Decision Pre-Mortem - URL: https://www.mindovermoney.ai/prompt-library/ai-prompt-to-check-a-major-decision/ - Published: 2026-10-06T11:00:13.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-06T11:00:13.000Z - Description: An AI decision pre-mortem turns concerns about a major choice into specific questions to investigate. Use this reusable prompt to identify missing information, possible adjustments and trade-offs before committing. - Author: Santosh Savel - Tags: #prompt-library A major decision can leave you with a clear list of pros and cons and no clear sense of what to investigate next. You know what you hope to gain, but some concerns are harder to explain. What might you be overlooking? What would you wish you had asked before committing? The next step is to turn those concerns into specific questions. Imagine looking back a year after choosing an option and feeling disappointed. What happened? What did you misunderstand or leave unchecked? Your answers can help you identify information to gather, conditions to discuss, or trade-offs to consider. This prompt adapts [Gary Klein’s premortem approach](https://www.gary-klein.com/premortem?ref=mindovermoney.ai), in which a team imagines a plan has failed and explores possible causes. You write a short note imagining regret about your decision, and the assistant helps turn it into a practical checklist. Imagining an outcome does not make it likely. The purpose is to identify what you need to learn while keeping sight of what you hope to gain. ## Make AI useful in your everyday work. Get Neural Gains Weekly in your inbox, with practical AI explanations, prompts, and lessons from building. Subscribe for free Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. One email every Tuesday, alternating NGW issues and podcast takeaways. **What You Can Use This For** - Weighing a job offer with more responsibility and less predictable hours. - Considering a move when you know the destination better than the daily routine. - Choosing a course or qualification alongside existing commitments. - Deciding whether to expand a side project or keep it small. **How to Use It** 1. Open a new text conversation in your usual AI assistant. Copy the entire prompt below, including the instructions after the four input fields. 2. Replace the brackets with your situation, then send it. Write “unknown” for missing information. If you have no preferred option, name one you want to examine first. 3. When asked, write three to five sentences or a few bullets imagining that you chose that option and regretted it a year later. Answer any essential follow-up questions. Type “skip” to stop questions and work with the information already supplied. 4. Read the checklist against your original input. If the assistant invents a detail or misunderstands a priority, tell it what to correct and ask for a revised checklist. 5. Carry out the most useful feasible check. Bring the answer back to the conversation and ask what it changes and what remains unknown. Keep the final choice with you. **Pro tip:** Make the regret note about daily life. “I was answering work calls during dinner” gives you a clearer question to investigate than “The job was a mistake.” You do not need to invent a dramatic failure. | ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6d/ac/6dacf343-2000-4262-aec3-d8051dcb76d5/content/images/2026/10/eaol-show-square-320.jpg) | The podcastExplore AI Out LoudFind practical ways to use AI in your work and everyday life. Learn from real experiments, including the mistakes, so you can spend less time guessing and more time trying something useful. New episodes every other Tuesday. | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6d/ac/6dacf343-2000-4262-aec3-d8051dcb76d5/content/images/2026/10/icon-youtube.png)Subscribe on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@exploreAIoutloud?sub%5Fconfirmation=1&ref=mindovermoney.ai)[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6d/ac/6dacf343-2000-4262-aec3-d8051dcb76d5/content/images/2026/10/icon-spotify.png)Follow on Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/0348nx4ylmWesSj02ECRjY?ref=mindovermoney.ai)[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6d/ac/6dacf343-2000-4262-aec3-d8051dcb76d5/content/images/2026/10/icon-applepodcasts.png)Follow on Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/explore-ai-out-loud/id6812370441?ref=mindovermoney.ai) [Latest episodes and the show](https://www.mindovermoney.ai/podcast/) **The Prompt** *Help me examine a decision before I commit. Turn my concerns into a practical checklist of what to learn, what I could change, and which trade-offs I would need to accept. Keep the final choice with me.* *My decision and realistic alternatives, including staying put if available: \[DESCRIBE\]* *The option to examine first, whether or not I prefer it, and what I hope to gain: \[DESCRIBE\]* *What matters most to me and any limits I cannot cross: \[DESCRIBE\]* *What I know, what remains uncertain, and my decision deadline: \[DESCRIBE\]* *First, ask me to write a short note imagining that I chose this option and regretted it 12 months later. Ask what disappointed me and what I wish I had checked beforehand. A few sentences or bullets are enough. Wait for my reply. If I already supplied the note, use it. Do not write it for me.* *If the decision or option is unclear, clarify that before requesting the note. Otherwise, ask clarifying questions only when an answer would materially change the checklist. Ask one focused question at a time and wait for my reply. Allow no more than three clarification questions in total, excluding the regret-note request. Questions requiring outside research belong in the checklist.* *If I type “skip,” stop asking questions, including the note request. Use only the context and concerns I have supplied, and mark gaps. If there is too little information to connect a checklist to my decision and priorities, briefly explain what essential information is missing instead of inventing an assessment.* *Once you have my note, or I have skipped, identify up to five concerns connected to my stated goals and limits. For each, give:* - *The concern and what raised it. Distinguish information I reported, unanswered questions, and imagined outcomes. Information I reported has not been independently verified.* - *What I need to learn, and any condition I said would make the concern acceptable. Leave unspecified limits for me to decide.* - *One specific question and a feasible way I could check it before my deadline.* - *A possible adjustment to reduce the risk, if one is apparent, and any trade-off that could remain.* *Keep each item concise. Within the five-concern limit, you may suggest another concern grounded in my situation, labeled “possibility to consider.” Do not invent personal facts or claim to know other people’s intentions, future outcomes, or numerical likelihoods.* *Finish with what I hope to gain, what I might give up by declining, and the most useful next check. Do not assume staying put is safer. Keep unresolved questions visible. If a check cannot be completed before my deadline, say so. If the deadline is unknown, flag that timing still needs to be assessed. Do not claim the decision is settled.* **Why This Prompt Is Worth Keeping** The useful output is a question you can act on. A concern about moving might lead you to try the commute at the time you would travel. A course could call for checking the weekly workload with someone currently enrolled. A side project may need a small trial before a larger commitment. Once you decide, [Vol. 37’s Decision Log Builder](https://www.mindovermoney.ai/prompt-library/ai-prompt-to-build-a-decision-log/) offers a way to record your choice and reasoning for a later review. | ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6d/ac/6dacf343-2000-4262-aec3-d8051dcb76d5/content/images/2026/10/eaol-show-square-320.jpg) | The podcastFollow Explore AI Out LoudShort clips from each episode, plus what did not make the cut. New episodes every other Tuesday. | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6d/ac/6dacf343-2000-4262-aec3-d8051dcb76d5/content/images/2026/10/icon-instagram.png)Follow on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/exploreaioutloud/?ref=mindovermoney.ai)[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6d/ac/6dacf343-2000-4262-aec3-d8051dcb76d5/content/images/2026/10/icon-tiktok.png)Follow on TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@exploreaioutloud?ref=mindovermoney.ai) [Full episodes and the show](https://www.mindovermoney.ai/podcast/) **Transparency and Notes** - The instructions were reviewed against illustrative situations, but the prompt has not been tested in an end-to-end model conversation. - Designed for text chat with follow-up replies. Compatibility across assistants and subscription tiers has not been tested. - This personal-decision adaptation does not predict regret or establish which choice is best. - Leave out confidential work details and sensitive information about other people.