Weigh it up: one decision, every side on one page

What this worksheet is

It is a list of pros and cons, the reasons for and against, which people have made on paper for a long time, with a few more boxes: when the decision is due, what matters most to you, what you do not know yet, and where you lean. The wording is our own. No counsellor, lawyer, doctor or financial adviser has reviewed it.

The idea is to get the decision out of your head and onto one page, so you can look at all of it at once, show it to someone, or put it down for the night.

How the page works

• Only the decision itself has to be filled in. Every other box can stay empty.
• There is room for three options. An option with nothing written in it is left out.
• You can keep a decision half done and come back to it with Change.
• A decision is marked Still open until you write something in What I decided. Then it is marked Decided.
• The day on each decision is the day you first kept it, by this device’s clock.
• The page holds up to 60 decisions and keeps them until you erase them.

Why the page does not count

Five small reasons on one side do not have to outweigh one large reason on the other. “Pays more” and “I would not see my children awake” are each one line, and they are not the same size. Only you know how much each line weighs, so the page shows your reasons as you wrote them and adds nothing up.

That is what the box What matters most to me here is for.

When someone is rushing you

Some deadlines are real: a court date, a lease that ends, a job offer with a day on it. Dates to keep holds those in one list.

Being pushed to pay, sign or send money at once, before you can think or ask anyone, is a common sign of a scam. Scam check goes through the signs.

When another page fits better

• If the decision is about leaving someone who hurts or frightens you, open Home safety first. It is about staying safe while you decide, and about who to call.
• A decision about your health or a treatment is one to make with a doctor or nurse. Get ready for your appointment helps you bring your questions.
• A decision about a court paper, a lease, a debt or your rights may need a lawyer. Legal help is about free and low-cost ones.
• If no option can be paid for, Money help is about bills that cannot be paid.
• If you know what to do and cannot start, One step at a time breaks it into steps small enough to begin.
• If what is in the way is a thought, such as “whatever I pick will be wrong”, Thought check is a worksheet for that.

What this page can’t do

• It does not decide. You do.
• It does not know the facts of your life, the law where you live, your health or your money.
• It does not check whether what you wrote is true or complete.
• It makes no promise that writing it down makes the choice easy. Some choices stay hard.
• It does not move to another phone or computer by itself. Print it, download it, or use My data on this device to carry a backup across.

Ways people use a worksheet like this

• Write it down at night so it can wait until morning.
• Fill in what is known today, and add to it as answers come in.
• Print the sheet and talk it through with someone you trust.
• Write “wait” or “do nothing” as an option, so its costs are on the page too.
• Come back after the decision and write what you chose, to have a record of why.

These are everyday ideas in our own words. They are not advice from a professional, and they do not suit everyone.