Consideration is the cognitive bridge between impulse and action, a deliberate pause that transforms raw data into reasoned judgment. To consider something is to engage in an active, often recursive process of weighing evidence, projecting consequences, and aligning potential outcomes with internal values or external objectives. It is not merely thinking about a topic; it is thinking through it, turning a subject over in the mind to examine its facets, shadows, and reflections. In a world increasingly driven by reaction speed and algorithmic suggestion, the capacity for genuine consideration stands as a critical differentiator between noise and wisdom.
The Anatomy of Consideration
At its core, consideration involves three distinct psychological movements: suspension, examination, and integration. Plus, this involves retrieving relevant memories, simulating future scenarios (prospection), and evaluating the credibility of sources. Second, the mind examines the object of thought—be it a job offer, a moral dilemma, or a strategic business move—from multiple angles. Day to day, first, the mind must suspend immediate judgment. This is the inhibitory control that stops the amygdala’s fight-or-flight response or the heuristic “gut feeling” from hijacking the prefrontal cortex. Third, the mind integrates these disparate threads into a coherent narrative or decision framework Which is the point..
This process is metabolically expensive. The brain consumes roughly 20% of the body’s energy despite being only 2% of its weight, and deep, effortful consideration—what Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman terms System 2 thinking—draws heavily on glucose reserves. Evolutionarily, this explains why humans default to System 1 (fast, intuitive, automatic) thinking. True consideration is a luxury of cognitive bandwidth, requiring the thinker to override the path of least resistance Easy to understand, harder to ignore..
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Dimensions of Consideration
The act of considering manifests differently depending on the stakes, the domain, and the time horizon involved But it adds up..
1. Ethical and Moral Consideration
When we consider the ethical weight of an action, we move beyond utilitarian calculus (greatest good for greatest number) into deontological territory (duty, rules, rights) or virtue ethics (character, integrity). To consider a moral dilemma—such as whistleblowing on an employer or allocating scarce medical resources—requires the thinker to inhabit the perspective of stakeholders who may be invisible or voiceless. This demands empathic projection, the ability to simulate the lived experience of another. Moral consideration also involves reflective equilibrium, a concept coined by philosopher John Rawls, where one cycles between specific intuitions about a case and general principles until they cohere The details matter here..
2. Strategic and Tactical Consideration
In business, warfare, or chess, consideration is synonymous with scenario planning. It involves mapping decision trees: If I do X, competitor likely responds with Y, leading to state Z. Strategic consideration requires distinguishing between known knowns (facts), known unknowns (risks), and unknown unknowns (black swans). A leader who considers well does not just ask “What happens if this works?” but “What happens if this fails catastrophically?” and “What is the opportunity cost of the resources committed here?” This dimension relies heavily on counterfactual reasoning—the ability to imagine worlds that do not exist to prepare for worlds that might.
3. Aesthetic and Creative Consideration
Artists, designers, and writers engage in a unique form of consideration: the dialogue between intent and material. A sculptor considers the grain of the wood; a novelist considers the rhythm of a sentence. Here, consideration is iterative and sensory. It is the pause between brushstrokes where the artist asks, “Does this serve the whole?” This form of consideration tolerates ambiguity longer than analytical forms. It resists premature closure, allowing the work to “speak back” to the creator. The Japanese concept of ma (negative space, interval) captures this—the consideration of what is not there is as vital as what is.
4. Interpersonal Consideration
To be “considerate” in a social context is to consider the needs, feelings, and boundaries of others before acting. This is consideration as prosocial behavior. It involves theory of mind—modeling another’s mental state—and the inhibition of self-centered impulses. When you lower your music volume because a neighbor is sleeping, you have run a rapid consideration cycle: My desire for loud music vs. Their need for sleep -> Social contract -> Action adjustment. High-functioning relationships are built on thousands of these micro-considerations.
The Enemies of Consideration
Understanding what consideration is requires understanding what destroys it. Modern life presents several structural threats to the faculty of consideration.
Cognitive Load and Decision Fatigue The average adult makes an estimated 35,000 decisions daily. By evening, the prefrontal cortex is depleted, leading to decision fatigue. In this state, the brain defaults to heuristics, biases, and the status quo. Consideration becomes biologically difficult, not just psychologically avoided.
The Attention Economy Platforms engineered for engagement (social media, infinite scroll, notification loops) fracture the sustained attention required for deep consideration. They reward reactivity—the instant like, the hot take, the share without reading. Consideration requires dwell time; the attention economy monetizes the absence of it.
Confirmation Bias and Motivated Reasoning The human mind is a fortress for existing beliefs. When we “consider” a political issue, we often engage in motivated reasoning: searching for evidence to support a predetermined conclusion while dismissing counter-evidence. This is pseudo-consideration—the theater of thought without the risk of changing one’s mind.
False Urgency Corporate cultures and crisis-driven environments manufacture urgency. “We need an answer now” is the death knell of consideration. While triage requires speed, strategic direction requires the space to ask, “Is this the right problem to solve?”
Cultivating the Habit of Consideration
Consideration is a muscle. It atrophies with disuse and strengthens with deliberate practice. Several protocols can deepen this capacity Worth keeping that in mind..
1. The “Pre-Mortem” Technique Popularized by psychologist Gary Klein, the pre-mortem asks a team to imagine a project has failed spectacularly six months in the future. Each member writes down the history of why it failed. This legitimizes dissent and forces consideration of risks that optimism bias usually buries Small thing, real impact..
2. The “Steel Man” Argument Unlike the straw man (knocking down a weak version of an opposing view), steel manning requires you to construct the strongest possible version of the argument you disagree with before critiquing it. This forces genuine consideration of the opponent’s logic and often reveals blind spots in your own.
3. Temporal Distancing (The 10-10-10 Rule) Suzy Welch’s framework asks: How will I feel about this decision in 10 minutes? 10 months? 10 years? This shifts the cognitive frame from immediate emotional regulation (System 1) to long-term value alignment (System 2), forcing consideration of second- and third-order consequences.
4. Writing as Thinking Joan Didion famously said, “I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking.” The act of writing forces linearization of non-linear thought. It exposes gaps in logic that internal monologue glosses over. A private journal or “decision log” is a powerful tool for consideration Small thing, real impact. That's the whole idea..
5. Environmental Design Create friction for impulsivity and flow for consideration. Keep the phone in another room during deep work. Use a “cooling off” folder for emails written in anger. Schedule “thinking blocks” on the calendar with the same rigor as meetings.
Consideration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
The rise of Large Language Models (LLMs) introduces a paradox. AI can simulate the output of consideration—generating pros/
