How to make a pros and cons list that actually helps you decide
A pros and cons list works best when each line describes what the choice would actually change for you, each line gets a weight from 1 to 5, and the totals are treated as a prompt rather than a verdict. Benjamin Franklin laid out the method in a 1772 letter to Joseph Priestley, writing the pros and cons in two columns and striking out pairs of equal weight until one side was left (Franklin, Founders Online).
Many guides stop at "draw a T." The part that decides whether the list helps is what goes in it and what you do when it does not give you an answer.
How to make a pros and cons list
You need a page, a pen or a blank note, and about ten minutes. A few days is better for a large decision, which is what Franklin did.
- Write the decision as a single question at the top. "Should I take the job in Leeds?" is workable. "What should I do with my life?" is not, and no list can answer it.
- Draw a line down the middle. Label the left side Pros and the right side Cons.
- List the pros first, then the cons, without arguing. Write what the choice would change in your ordinary days: money, time, people, energy, what you would stop doing. Short phrases are enough.
- Add the people it affects. Write down the people this choice would affect, and how. Indeed's guide suggests the same, adding the likely reactions of family or colleagues at the end of the list.
- Weigh every line. Give each one a number from 1 to 5 for how much it would matter a year from now. This is the step that turns a list of items into a picture.
- Compare, then check against your gut. Add up each column, and read how you feel about the result before you act on it.
If you cannot think of cons, you may already be leaning towards the option. Ask yourself what a friend who disagreed with you would write.
A pros and cons list template you can copy
Copy this into a note or onto a page. Every line gets three parts, and the middle one is what keeps the list honest.
- Pro or con: one short phrase.
- What it would change: one sentence on how your days would differ.
- Weight: a number from 1 to 5.
When you have filled it in, add the weights for each side and write the two totals at the bottom. Then write one more line: "The thing I would most hate to lose is ____." That sentence can matter more than the arithmetic.
How to weigh the items
Franklin's own method is worth copying, because it does something a plain tally does not. He wrote that he tried to estimate the weight of each reason, then struck out two reasons of equal weight on opposite sides, or one reason against two others, or two against three, that together matched it, until he could see where the balance lay. He added that he would wait a day or two more to see whether anything important turned up before deciding.
He was candid about the limits too: the weight of reasons "cannot be taken with the Precision of Algebraic Quantities," yet looking at each one separately and then together left him less likely to make a rash step.
A modern version looks like this:
- Cancel before you add. If a 4-point pro and a 4-point con match, cross both out. What remains is the real argument.
- Ask what a year would do to each line. A pro that thrills you this week may be worth a 1 by spring, and a con you are embarrassed to write down may be a 5.
- Weigh the irreversible items heavier. A choice you can undo next month deserves less ceremony than one you cannot.
A short example
Say the question is "Should I move closer to my family?" The pros might be "Sunday dinners" (4), "Cheaper rent" (3) and "Help with childcare" (5). The cons might be "Fewer job openings" (4), "Leaving my friends" (4) and "Losing my own space" (2). The columns total 12 and 10, which is close.
Cancel "Sunday dinners" against "Fewer job openings," which are both 4, and what is left is 8 points of rent and childcare help against 6 points of leaving friends and losing your own space. The list did not decide for you, but it showed you the real question: whether practical help is worth the distance from your friends.
When a pros and cons list stops helping
A list is a good tool for a choice with clear, comparable parts. It gets weaker in three situations.
When the columns come out level. BetterUp's guide points out that if the result disappoints you, your gut may be telling you which option you actually want, and that a list is a tool, not a decision-maker. A tie can mean both options are livable, and that you are agonising over a smaller choice than it feels like.
When the real question is not on the page. Sometimes the list is about a job, and the real decision is whether to disappoint someone, or whether you are allowed to want something different. No weighting scheme reaches that. How to make a hard decision covers those deeper questions.
When more analysis makes things worse. In two studies reported by Wilson and Schooler, college students who analysed their reasons for liking strawberry jams, or who evaluated every attribute of college courses, ended up with choices that matched expert opinion less than the choices of students who did not. The authors suggest that analysing reasons can point attention at the wrong criteria, and that rating many attributes can flatten the differences between options. Those were jam and course choices with student samples, so this is not proof that lists fail for big life decisions. It is a fair reason to keep a list short, weigh it quickly and stop.
If you notice you are rewriting the list for the fifth time, the list is no longer the problem. Why you can't stop overthinking explains the loop, and what is decision fatigue explains why every extra pass makes the next choice harder.
What to do when the list does not decide it
Try these in order, and stop when one gives you something.
- Put a deadline on it. Pick a day and a time and decide then, on whatever you know, so the list has an end.
- Pick the first small step, not the whole path. "Ask for a trial week" is easier to choose than "change careers."
- Imagine telling someone. Say out loud which option you would be relieved to announce. Relief is not proof, but it is data.
- Clear the clutter first. If your head is full of everything else, a brain dump makes room before you try to weigh anything.
Doing it with some help
If you would rather be walked through the choice than draw the columns yourself, Solace's Choose is a good fit when the list stalls. You describe the decision you are stuck on, and it reflects it back in a few plain sentences so you can see what you are really deciding. It will not decide for you, and it is not a pros-and-cons list. You get one free session a day, and follow-up turns and unlimited sessions are part of Solace Pro. A pen and a page do the same basic job for free if you prefer them.
If your head is too crowded to start, Clear Your Mind is the gentler first step.
When this won't be enough
A list helps with ordinary choices. It does not help when the decision is tangled up with something heavier: a loss, a relationship ending, or a stretch of low mood where every option looks bad.
If you have been unable to decide for weeks, if the choice is keeping you awake, or if you feel numb about outcomes that once mattered, that is worth taking to a doctor or a qualified mental health professional. It is not a sign that you are bad at deciding. It means the decision is carrying more than a piece of paper can hold.
Try it yourself
Draw the two columns, add the weights, cancel the matching pairs, and write the line about what you would most hate to lose. If you would like company with it, Choose has a free session waiting each day.
Sources
- Franklin, B. (1772). Letter to Joseph Priestley, 19 September 1772. Founders Online, US National Archives
- Wilson, T. D., & Schooler, J. W. (1991). Thinking too much: introspection can reduce the quality of preferences and decisions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(2), 181-192
- BetterUp. Pros and cons lists: examples and templates
- Indeed Career Guide. Pros and cons list templates (with how-to), updated June 2026
Solace offers calm, practical tools, not medical advice. If you are struggling to make decisions or feel low for long stretches, please speak with a doctor or a qualified professional.
Common questions
What is a pros and cons list?
It is a two-column page that sets the good and bad outcomes of one choice side by side, so you can see them together instead of one at a time. It helps most with choices that have several moving parts and no obvious winner.
How do you make a pros and cons list?
Put the decision as a question at the top, split the page into Pros and Cons, and fill each side with the real effects on your days. Then score every line out of five and compare the totals. Scoring is the step most lists skip, and it is the one that matters.
How do you weigh pros and cons?
Score each line by its lasting importance rather than by how loudly it nags today. Then cancel lines that match: one pro against one con of equal score, or one pro against two smaller cons. Whatever survives the cancelling is your real picture.
Can you trust the result of a pros and cons list?
Trust it as a prompt, not a verdict. A tally cannot see what you left off the page, and it counts a trivial item the same as a life-sized one unless you weigh them. If the answer makes you wince, that reaction is information worth taking seriously.
What if the pros and cons are equal?
A tie can mean the list is measuring the wrong thing, or that both options are acceptable and the choice matters less than it feels. Ask which column holds the item you would hate to lose, or settle it with a time limit and a small first step.
Is there something better than a pros and cons list for a big decision?
For a decision with real emotional weight, a list is a starting point rather than the whole job. Writing what you value, imagining each path a year on, and talking it through with someone you trust all add what two columns cannot. Solace's Choose can help with the last part: you describe the decision and it reflects back what you are really deciding.
This is what Choose was built for.
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