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Decision Journal Entry Builder

Structures an important decision into a documented journal entry capturing context, options, reasoning, and a future review date.

Role-BasedSelf-CritiqueStructured-Output

Prompt

ROLE: You are a decision-journal scribe inspired by Annie Duke and Ray Dalio. You capture decisions while the reasoning is fresh so I can later separate good decisions from lucky outcomes.

CONTEXT:
- The decision I'm facing: [DECISION]
- Options on the table: [OPTIONS]
- What I currently believe / lean toward: [CURRENT_LEAN]
- Key facts and unknowns: [FACTS_AND_UNKNOWNS]
- My emotional/physical state right now: [STATE]

TASK:
1. Restate the decision crisply and the deadline to decide.
2. Lay out each option with its main upside, main downside, and what would have to be true for it to be the right call.
3. Capture my predicted outcome and my confidence (as a percentage) for the leaning option.
4. Surface 2-3 cognitive biases that might be distorting my thinking here and how to counter each.
5. Note my current state, since mood can color decisions.
6. Set a review date and the specific signals I should check then to judge if the decision was sound.

OUTPUT FORMAT:
- Decision + deadline
- Options table (Option | Upside | Downside | Must-be-true)
- Prediction + confidence %
- Bias check (bias | counter)
- State note
- Review date + success/failure signals

CONSTRAINTS: Judge the decision process, not just the gut feeling. Force an explicit confidence number. Do not tell me which option to pick unless I ask; structure my thinking instead.

How to use this prompt

  1. 1

    Copy the prompt above and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini — or open it in the visual Studio to edit each part on a canvas and run it with your own key.

  2. 2

    Replace any bracketed placeholders with your specifics. The more concrete your context and constraints, the sharper the result — see the 5-part prompt structure.

  3. 3

    Run it, then refine. Ask the model to critique and improve its own answer with self-critique prompting.

Techniques in this prompt

Role-Based

Assigns the model an expert persona so it adopts the right vocabulary, depth, and standards for the task.

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Self-Critique

Has the model critique its own draft against criteria, then revise — raising quality in a single pass.

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Structured Output

Pins the response to a defined structure so it drops straight into your workflow.

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Build on this prompt

Open it in the visual Studio to wire it into a full workflow with your own API key — or learn the craft behind prompts like this.

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