--- title: A Self-Made Billionaire Uses This Easy Trick for Decisions description: A twist to the classic pro-con list canonical: https://time.com/3772262/billionaire-trick-for-decisions/ author: Shane Parrish article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-17T11:00:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-07-09T08:20:04.644Z article:section: Ideas og:title: A Self-Made Billionaire Uses This Easy Trick for Decisions og:description: A twist to the classic pro-con list og:url: https://time.com/3772262/billionaire-trick-for-decisions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4f11ee62751e9bd/698786ca55a8595cdda86aa7/seymour-schulich.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Seymour Schulich on March 31, 2014 in Toronto. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Self-Made Billionaire Uses This Easy Trick for Decisions twitter:description: A twist to the classic pro-con list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4f11ee62751e9bd/698786ca55a8595cdda86aa7/seymour-schulich.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Self-Made Billionaire Uses This Easy Trick for Decisions ## Video: One Minute Money: Budgeting Made Easy [Watch (HLS stream): One Minute Money: Budgeting Made Easy](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/baHOIlxf.m3u8) (1:19)  _Published 2014-06-24. MONEY's Kristen Bellstrom explains how to make a simple and effective budget._ by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Apr 17, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  Seymour Schulich on March 31, 2014 in Toronto. Seymour Schulich on March 31, 2014 in Toronto.Rick Madonik—Toronto Star/Getty Images by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Apr 17, 2015 11:00 AM UTC The first chapter in Seymour Schulich’s book, [Get Smarter: Life and Business Lessons](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1552639428/farnamstreet-20), offers a decision tool that adds to the simple pro-and-con list that many of us have used to make decisions. Schulich, a self-made billionaire, is one of Canada’s richest and best-known businessmen. --- > “” --- You all know the simple pro-and-con list? The one where you divide the page in two and simply list out all the pros and cons. Well, the Decision-Maker adds a twist to that. Here’s how it works. --- > “” --- Now add up the scores. But here’s the rule. --- > “” --- Yes that sounds simple. I agree. But I also don’t think that things need to be complicated in order to be effective. --- > “” --- This tool works for groups too. --- > “” --- **_This_** [**_piece_**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2015/02/seymour-schulich-the-decision-maker/) **_originally appeared on_** [**_Farnam Street_**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/)**_._** **Join over 50,000 readers and get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/newsletter/)**.** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3772262/billionaire-trick-for-decisions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3772262/billionaire-trick-for-decisions/"},"headline":"A Self-Made Billionaire Uses This Easy Trick for Decisions","datePublished":"2015-04-17T11:00:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-09T08:20:04.644Z","description":"A twist to the classic pro-con list","url":"https://time.com/3772262/billionaire-trick-for-decisions/","keywords":["Books","decision-making"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4f11ee62751e9bd/698786ca55a8595cdda86aa7/seymour-schulich.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shane Parrish","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4f11ee62751e9bd/698786ca55a8595cdda86aa7/seymour-schulich.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Seymour Schulich on March 31, 2014 in Toronto.","caption":"Seymour Schulich on March 31, 2014 in Toronto.","creditText":"Rick Madonik—Toronto Star/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3772262/billionaire-trick-for-decisions/","name":"A Self-Made Billionaire Uses This Easy Trick for Decisions"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"One Minute Money: Budgeting Made Easy","description":"MONEY's Kristen Bellstrom explains how to make a simple and effective budget.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/baHOIlxf/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-06-24T16:45:19.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/baHOIlxf.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3772262/billionaire-trick-for-decisions/","duration":"PT1M19S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3772262/billionaire-trick-for-decisions/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```