A decision-making worksheet enables you to keep track of a large number of variables by setting them up in the form of a spreadsheet. Decision-making worksheets are helpful because when the number of variables gets too large—somewhere between 5 and 9—we tend to forget some of them. Remember that all thinking relies on memory. To use information in your decision making, you must be able to recall it from memory. But our working memory can hold only a limited number of items at one time. By assigning variables to a decision-making worksheet, we reduce the "load" on working memory because we no longer need to keep so many items in working memory. This allows us to think more effectively.

In the next few sections, we'll walk through steps for creating a decision-making worksheet. In each step, we will help you create and fill in cells on a spreadsheet. This worksheet will open into a secondary window. You should leave this window open until you have finished the activity. When you finish, you'll possess an important tool that will change the way you make decisions. Here are the steps we'll be taking: