Concept
The vanishing options test
The vanishing options test asks: if the options you are looking at simply disappeared, what would you do? It is the Heaths' fastest tool for escaping a narrow frame, because the mind was never stuck, only anchored to the doors in front of it.
When a decision has two options, the mind treats them as the whole field. Removing them, even hypothetically, forces it to generate more, and the answers come surprisingly fast. You cannot take the job and you cannot stay; now what? Ask for a raise. Take it for a year with a written review. Propose part-time to both. The test works best out loud with another person and produces options you would genuinely consider, which is the point: not twenty doors, but three real ones.
A real-life example
A product manager who could not decide between an offer and his current job runs the test and has three new options within ten minutes, including the one he eventually takes: consulting for the competitor for six weeks before answering.
How to use it
- 1Say out loud: these options are gone; what do I do now?
- 2Write down every answer, then keep the ones you would actually take.
- 3Aim for three real options before evaluating any.