
For you
Personal Practice
Module · Track your calls, not just wins
The Decision Journal Check
Left to itself, memory keeps your good calls and quietly buries the bad ones, which is why most people feel they have better judgment than their record would show. A decision journal replaces that flattering story with evidence: what you decided, what you expected, and what actually happened. This module checks the five habits that turn decisions into a feedback loop: logging the call, recording the prediction, going back to check, extracting the lesson, and refusing to let hindsight rewrite the score.
What the five levels look like
Every dimension in this assessment is scored 1 to 5. This is what the levels mean, dimension by dimension. The graded report diagnoses where your own answers land and what to do about it.
You log your calls
- 1Never
- 2Big ones, later
- 3Occasionally
- 4Most decisions
- 5At the time, always
At the low end: With no record, you cannot learn from your decisions, only from your feelings about them. Start a single running note and log the next real call you make, dated, in a sentence or two. What good looks like: Logging decisions as you make them gives you the one thing memory cannot: an honest before. Keep the entries short so the habit survives busy weeks.
You predict outcomes
- 1No predictions
- 2Vague hopes
- 3Rough expectation
- 4Specific prediction
- 5Prediction with confidence
At the low end: A decision with no prediction attached is impossible to grade honestly afterwards. Add a line to each entry: what you expect to happen, and by when. What good looks like: Predictions with a confidence level are what let you calibrate over time, not just tally hits. Keep stating the number; noticing your ninety-percents come in at seventy is the whole point.
You go back
- 1Never revisit
- 2Only by accident
- 3When reminded
- 4Periodic review
- 5Scheduled review
At the low end: Logging without reviewing gives you the cost of journaling and none of the payoff. Put a recurring reminder in your calendar to read back over decisions whose results are now known. What good looks like: A scheduled review is what closes the loop and turns entries into calibration. Protect the slot; it is the least urgent and most valuable half hour on your calendar.
You extract the lesson
- 1Just move on
- 2Only feel bad
- 3Vague takeaway
- 4Named lesson
- 5Lesson changes behaviour
At the low end: Moving on from a bad call without examining it guarantees you meet it again. When a decision disappoints, write one line on what you would do differently. What good looks like: A lesson that actually changes your behaviour is the entire return on a decision journal. Check on review whether last quarter's lessons stuck, or just got written down.
You resist hindsight
- 1Outcome is everything
- 2Rarely separate them
- 3Sometimes distinguish
- 4Usually distinguish
- 5Judge process, not luck
At the low end: If you score decisions purely by how they turned out, you will punish good calls that got unlucky and learn the wrong lessons. Judge the decision against what you knew at the time, which your journal preserves. What good looks like: Judging the process rather than the luck is the mark of genuinely calibrated judgment. Keep the before-record honest; it is the only defence against a memory that flatters you.