Third Choice

When stuck trying to choose between two options, try adding a third choice.

In your Project Quartz journal, write down the decision you’re trying to make along with the two existing options. Now, add a third choice.

• This third choice might be an equivalent alternative (e.g., add a third career path you hadn’t previously considered).

• Or it might be creative compromise (e.g., see if you can do both internships, one after the other).

Adding a third choice doesn’t mean you need to go with this choice. The idea is simply to break the stalemate between the first two options by giving you something new to compare them to.

Once you’ve added your third choice, review the decision again and see if the answer comes easier to you now thanks to this new lens.

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Variation: The Tetralemma

The Tetralemma is a specific type of Third Choice (and Fourth Choice) in which you consider Option A, Option B, both (like the second example above), and neither (like the first example above).

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Source

The Tetralemma: The Design Thinking Life Playbook: Empower Yourself, Embrace Change, and Visualize a Joyful Life (2020) by Michael Lewrick, Jean-Paul Thommen, & Larry Leifer