How to Make a Pros and Cons List That Actually Helps

A pros and cons list helps you make a decision when you do three things most people skip: weight each item by how much it matters, test the options against different time horizons, and say the result out loud to see if it sits right. Without those steps, you usually get two columns of roughly equal length and no answer.

Below is a method that turns the classic list into something that actually points somewhere, with a worked example and a section on when a list is the wrong tool entirely.

Why plain pros and cons lists fail

The basic version, a line down the middle and items on each side, has three problems:

1. Every item counts the same. "Longer commute" and "doubles my salary" each get one line.
2. You list what's easy to name. Practical items (money, time, location) crowd out the ones that are harder to put into words (how you'll feel, who you'll become).
3. It counts; it doesn't decide. Seven pros vs. five cons doesn't mean yes. It means you thought of more pros.

None of this means the list is useless. It means it's the first step, not the whole process.

A brief history: Franklin's "moral algebra"

The weighted pros and cons list is old. In a 1772 letter to the chemist Joseph Priestley, Benjamin Franklin described what he called "moral algebra": write pros and cons in two columns over several days, then estimate the weight of each. When a pro and a con seem equal, strike them both out. If one pro equals two cons, strike all three. Whatever's left tells you where the balance lies.

Two parts of his advice still hold up: take a few days to fill the list, because reasons don't all occur to you at once, and weigh items rather than counting them.

Step 1: Frame the decision clearly

Write the decision as a choice between named options, not a vague question.

• Vague: "Should I change my life?"
• Clear: "Take the job in Denver, or stay in my current role in Chicago?"

If there are more than two options, make one list per option rather than cramming them into a single pro/con split. And check whether "do nothing" or "decide later" is secretly an option. It usually is.

Step 2: Brain dump the pros and cons

Spend 10 minutes listing everything for each option, without judging. Include the practical and the emotional. Use these prompts if you stall:

• What would this change about my day-to-day?
• What would it cost: money, time, relationships, energy?
• What do I gain that I can't get any other way?
• Who else is affected, and how?
• What am I afraid of here?
• What would I miss?

Don't filter. "My mom would be disappointed" belongs on the list even if you feel you shouldn't care. If you have more to untangle than one decision, a general brain dump first can help separate the decision from everything else crowding your head.

Step 3: Weight each item

Give every item a score from 1 to 5 for how much it matters to you.

• 1: nice to have, barely matters
• 3: clearly matters
• 5: a dealbreaker or a defining reason

Be honest, not virtuous. If the bigger apartment matters more to you than the "growth opportunity," score it that way. Then add up each column.

This step usually changes the picture. Lists that looked even often split clearly once weights go in, because one or two heavy items outweigh a pile of light ones.

A worked example

Say you've been offered a role at a smaller company: more responsibility and a raise, but a less stable business and a longer commute. Your weighted list might look like this:

Option: Take the new job	Weight	Option: Stay	Weight
Pro: 15% raise	3	Pro: Stable company	4
Pro: Leading a team	5	Pro: Short commute	3
Pro: Learning a new industry	3	Pro: Team I like	3
Con: Startup could fold	-4	Con: Stalled growth	-5
Con: 50-minute commute	-2	Con: Bored most days	-3
Total	5	Total	2

Counted plainly, both options have three pros and two cons: a tie. Weighted, the new job comes out ahead, mostly because "leading a team" and "stalled growth" are the two heaviest items and both point the same way.

That's useful, but don't stop here. The numbers are only as good as your weights, and weights are guesses. The next steps stress-test them.

Step 4: Run the 10/10/10 test

The 10/10/10 test comes from Suzy Welch, who wrote a book on it. For each option, ask:

• How will I feel about this 10 minutes from now?
• How about 10 months from now?
• And 10 years from now?

This pulls apart short-term discomfort from long-term consequences. In the example: in 10 minutes, staying feels like relief and leaving feels scary. In 10 months, staying probably feels like more of the same boredom, while leaving means either a new skill set or a stressful job hunt if the startup struggles. In 10 years, the experience of having led a team likely matters more than the commute.

If an option only looks good on the 10-minute horizon, that's a sign you're choosing for comfort, which is fine sometimes, but it should be a conscious choice.

Step 5: Try regret minimization

Jeff Bezos has described using a "regret minimization framework" when deciding to leave his job to start Amazon: imagine yourself at 80, looking back, and ask which choice you'd regret more.

It's not a formula. It's a way to notice which regrets are about not trying and which are about what went wrong. Many people find they regret inaction more than action, but not always. Some risks you'd genuinely regret taking.

Ask yourself: "If I choose this and it goes badly, will I still be glad I tried?" If yes for one option and no for the other, that's important information your weights may have missed.

Step 6: Ask "what would I need to believe?"

This question is borrowed from strategy work (Roger Martin popularized the related question "what would have to be true?"). For each option, write down what you'd need to believe for it to be the right choice.

For "take the new job," you might need to believe:

• The startup has at least 18 months of runway
• I'd actually enjoy managing people
• I can handle the commute, or negotiate remote days

For "stay," you might need to believe:

• A promotion is realistically coming within a year
• The boredom is a phase, not the job

Now look at the list. Which beliefs can you check? You can ask the startup about funding. You can ask your manager about a promotion timeline. You can try a two-week commute experiment. This step turns a feelings argument into a short research list, and often the decision makes itself once you get the answers.

Step 7: Talk it out

Written lists are good at structure and bad at honesty. When you say the decision out loud, to a friend, to a voice memo, to an empty room, you hear things the page hides. Your voice gets flat on one option. You catch yourself making excuses. You laugh at a con you scored 4.

Try this: explain your decision out loud as if you've already made it. "I'm taking the new job because..." Then do the same for the other option. Notice which explanation sounds like you and which sounds like you're trying to convince someone.

A few things to listen for:

• Relief or disappointment when you imagine the other option winning
• "Should" language, which often points to someone else's values
• Reasons you didn't put on the list, which tend to slip out when you talk

When pros and cons lists fail

Lists work best when the options can be compared on the same scale. They struggle in a few situations:

Values conflicts. When the choice is between two things you deeply care about, like career vs. being near family or security vs. adventure, there is no shared unit to weigh them in. Scoring "be near my aging parents" a 5 and "dream job" a 5 doesn't resolve anything. In these cases, it helps more to journal about which value you want to lead with in this season of your life, and what you'd do to honor the other one. Our what to journal about guide has prompts for this kind of reflection.

Decisions that depend on unknowns. If the answer depends mostly on facts you don't have, more listing won't help. Go get the facts (see Step 6).

When you already know. Sometimes you make the list hoping it'll give you permission. If you keep fiddling with weights until your preferred option wins, the list has done its job: it showed you what you want.

Big emotional decisions. Breakups, moves after a loss and other major life changes can be too heavy for a spreadsheet. A list can still help you see the practical side, but give the feelings their own space, and consider talking with someone you trust or a professional.

A quick checklist

1. Frame the decision as named options
2. Brain dump pros and cons for each, practical and emotional
3. Weight each item 1 to 5 and total them
4. Run 10/10/10
5. Ask which choice you'd regret more at 80
6. List what you'd need to believe, and check what you can
7. Explain each choice out loud and listen

You won't always need all seven steps. For a small decision, weights alone usually settle it. For a big one, the later steps are where the real answer shows up.

FAQ

How do you make a pros and cons list?

Write each option at the top of its own column, list the pros and cons under it, then give each item a weight from 1 to 5 based on how much it matters to you. Total the weights rather than counting items. Then test the result with time horizons and by saying it out loud.

What is the 10/10/10 rule?

It's a decision test popularized by Suzy Welch. For each option, ask how you'll feel about it in 10 minutes, 10 months and 10 years. It helps separate short-term discomfort from long-term consequences.

Are pros and cons lists effective?

They're useful for structuring a decision, especially when you add weights. They're weaker for decisions that hinge on conflicting values or missing facts. Use the list to organize your thinking, not to make the choice for you.

What do you do when the pros and cons are equal?

Add weights if you haven't, since equal counts rarely mean equal importance. If weighted totals are still close, either option is probably reasonable, so use the regret test or explain each choice out loud and notice which one you feel relieved to pick.