A free decision matrix template that scores your options on what matters to you, then checks the answer before you act on it.
5.0(1 rating)List your options, say what matters to you, and score each option. The matrix does the math, checks the answer, and asks the one question math can't: which choice would you regret not making?
The decision
Write the decision as a question, then your options: two to six of them. Or open a real decision below and see how it works.
Real decisions, each from the person's own telling. The scores are my reading of what they said, not theirs.
Jeff Bezos1994 · AmazonStay in a good job in New York, or start a company selling books online? His boss asked him to think about it for 48 hours. He pictured himself at 80.
Ali AbdaalDoctor to full-time creatorHe wrote down the upsides, then ran fear-setting on the downside: the worst case was going back to medicine a few years behind, "not a big deal".
Not affiliated with anyone named here.
This free decision matrix template scores your options on what matters to you, weighted, then checks the answer before you act on it.
It's the decision mode of my AI Life Coach OS, turned into a tool you fill in: options, what matters, scores at 10 days, 10 months and 10 years, and the regret test.
Everything runs in your browser. The math is instant, and AI is only there if you want a nudge.
What is a decision matrix?
A decision matrix is a table that compares your options on the things that matter to you. Each thing gets a weight for how much it matters, each option gets a score on each thing, and the weighted totals show which option comes out ahead.
It's also called a weighted decision matrix, a weighted scoring model or a Pugh matrix, after Stuart Pugh, the engineer who made it popular for comparing designs.
The point isn't to let a spreadsheet decide for you. It's to see your own thinking laid out, so a gut feeling has to hold up next to it.
How to use the decision matrix template
- Write your decision as a question, and add your options: two to six of them.
- List what matters to you, or start from a set for a job, a move, a business idea or a big purchase. Give each a weight from 1 to 5.
- Score each option from 1 to 5 on each thing that matters. The bars move as you score.
- Switch between 10 days, 10 months and 10 years, and see if the winner changes.
- Take the regret test: at 80, which choice would you regret not making?
- Name the main risk, add your next three actions with dates, and add them to your calendar.
Decide like Jeff Bezos and Ali Abdaal
Open a real decision in the tool to see how it works. Both come from the person's own telling. The scores are my reading of what they said.
In 1994, Jeff Bezos had a good job in New York and an idea for selling books online. His boss took him on a two-hour walk in Central Park and asked him to think about it for 48 hours. Bezos pictured himself at 80, looking back:
I knew that if I failed I wouldn't regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not ever having tried.
Ali Abdaal did it the other way around when he left medicine to be a full-time creator. He wrote down the upsides (choosing where to live, how to work and who to work with), then ran fear-setting on the downside. His worst case was going back to medicine a few years behind his colleagues, which he called "not a big deal".
10 days, 10 months, 10 years
The same option can win this week and lose in a decade. That's the idea behind Suzy Welch's 10-10-10 rule: ask how you'll feel about a choice 10 days, 10 months and 10 years from now.
The template scores 10 months first, then lets you rescore at 10 days and 10 years. When a different option wins short term than long term, the checks say so, because that's usually the real decision.
How the answer is checked
Before you act, the template checks your matrix in code, for free:
- No single weight is doing all the work.
- Every option is scored on everything.
- The winner has a clear lead, not a 3-point one.
- One weight moved up or down wouldn't flip the answer.
- The same option wins at 10 days and 10 years.
- Your regret test agrees with your scores.
- You've named the main risk, and every action has a date.
When a check fails, it tells you what to look at, not what to decide.
Who is the decision matrix for?
It's for anyone with a choice that keeps them up at night:
- Decision matrix template – choosing between jobs, cities, business ideas or big purchases
- Weighted decision matrix – when some things matter far more than others
- Regret minimization framework – when the numbers say one thing and your gut another
- Eisenhower matrix template – when the problem is too many tasks, not one big choice
- Free AI life coach – when you'd rather talk it through
A decision you've scored, checked and put on your calendar is one you can stop thinking about.
Talk your decision through
FAQs about the decision matrix
Questions about the decision matrix template? Here's what to know.
A decision matrix is a table that compares your options on the things that matter to you, each weighted for how much it matters.
The weighted totals show which option comes out ahead.
List your options and what matters to you, give each thing a weight from 1 to 5, and score each option from 1 to 5.
Multiply each score by its weight, add them up, and compare the totals.
Mostly, yes.
A Pugh matrix is a decision matrix named after engineer Stuart Pugh, often scored against one baseline option.
It asks how you'll feel about a choice 10 days, 10 months and 10 years from now.
The template scores your options at all three.
That's useful.
Either your scores are missing something that matters to you, or your gut is afraid of the right choice, and the regret test helps you tell which.
Yes, it stays in your browser.
It's only sent anywhere when you press an AI button.
I did.
I'm Navid Moazzez, and I made the decision matrix template as one of my free tools on navid.me.
More about me.
Navid Moazzez
AI business strategist & AI OS builder
Navid Moazzez helps creators and founders master AI and build their own AI Operating System (AI OS) to automate their business and life.
Navid.me is reader-supported. When you buy through links on this site, I may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more.
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