When Both Options Feel Wrong
Use the Reversal Test with AI to spot the hidden default and design a better setup fast.
TL;DR
Defaults are not neutral. They quietly become the “baseline” your brain protects.
The Reversal Test is one move: if a change in one direction seems bad, test the opposite.
If both directions seem bad, you are often tuning the wrong dial.
AI helps you do this fast with a simple loop: analyze, propose, pressure-test.
1) Learning framing: the goal is cleaner everyday decisions (with AI)
You try to fix something simple, and you get stuck.
Move the deadline earlier and everyone stresses. Move it later and nothing happens until the last minute.
Spend less and you feel deprived. Spend more and you feel reckless.
Have fewer meetings and people feel disconnected. Have more and everyone gets exhausted.
The weird part is not the details. It is the pattern.
Both directions feel wrong.
This guide gives you a fast way out of that loop. In a few minutes, you can spot the hidden default underneath the decision, test both directions, and design a better setup you can actually try.
Defaults are not neutral. They are just familiar.
A default is any setting, rule, or habit that became “normal” over time, even if nobody chose it on purpose. Once it becomes the baseline, your brain starts treating it like the sensible middle.
This week’s mental model is the Reversal Test, and it is deliberately small.
How AI helps
AI is useful here for two jobs:
Make the default visible and clarify what you are trying to achieve.
Suggest a better setup so the right behavior becomes easier.
2) The Reversal Test in plain language and why defaults trap you
The Reversal Test is simple.
If changing something in one direction seems bad, test the opposite direction.
That alone helps because it interrupts the feeling that the current setting is obviously correct.
The real value shows up when both directions seem bad.
If both directions seem bad, the current setting is being treated as “just right” without a clear reason. That is a strong sign you might be tuning the wrong dial.
The basic move
Pick the dial you are trying to tune:
earlier vs later
more vs less
stricter vs looser
faster vs slower
Now run the reversal:
Imagine the change you were considering. Why does it seem bad?
Imagine the opposite change. Why does that seem bad?
If only one direction is bad, you have a clearer direction.
If both directions are bad, you have a signal. It usually points to one of these:
The goal is unclear.
A real constraint is not being said out loud.
The dial is a proxy for something else.
The setup needs a redesign.
Your quick example captures it well.
If moving a deadline earlier is bad and moving it later is bad, the issue may be the deadline system itself. A single date is doing too much work.
Two everyday examples
1) Budgeting
Spending less feels miserable. Spending more feels reckless.
A clean redesign is to remove daily decision pressure with one default: set an automatic transfer on payday into savings and bills, then treat what remains as guilt-free spending.
2) Screen time
Stricter rules fail. Looser rules drift.
A clean redesign is to change the environment: turn off non-essential notifications and keep distracting apps off your home screen, so “less screen time” happens by default.
This is the practical benefit of the model.
You stop looping on direction and you start creating setups that make the right behavior easier.
3) Prompts: use AI to spot default traps and redesign the setup
The simplest way to use this with AI is one sentence.
Paste what is going on, then add:
Apply the Reversal Test. Help me identify the default I am protecting, test both directions, and tell me if I am tuning the wrong dial.
Below are three short prompts that do the same loop every time: spot, rebuild, pressure-test.
3.1 Diagnostic prompt: apply the Reversal Test to what I wrote
Use this when you feel stuck between two directions and both feel wrong.
Apply the Reversal Test to my situation.
Identify the default I am treating as normal.
State my goal in one clear sentence.
List the real constraints you infer.
Test the change in one direction, then the opposite direction.
If both directions seem bad, tell me what dial might be wrong and what I should reconsider.
Keep it plain language. Do not force symmetry.
[SITUATION]
3.2 Build prompt: redesign the setup so the right behavior is easier
Use this when both directions feel bad, or when the same problem keeps repeating.
Help me redesign this situation so I stop tuning the same dial.
Give me:
One new default or rule I can adopt.
One small environment change that makes it easier to follow.
A 7-day experiment with one simple measurement.
A safety plan so I can revert if it backfires.
Keep it realistic and low effort.
[SITUATION]
3.3 Reversal Gauntlet prompt: pressure-test the redesign before I commit
Use this after you have a proposed new default and want to make it sturdier.
Pressure-test my proposed new default like a practical, friendly critic.
List the top 5 ways this fails in real life.
Point out any real asymmetries where reversal thinking does not apply.
Suggest one simplification that keeps the benefit but reduces friction.
Tell me what evidence would justify keeping it after 7 days.
[PROPOSAL]
4) Principles and traps
The Reversal Test works best when you treat it as a fast way to clarify what is going on, then act with a small experiment.
Principles
Reverse in realistic steps.
Test the opposite direction in a way you could actually choose.Say the goal out loud.
If you cannot name what “better” means, every direction will feel wrong.Name constraints early.
Time, money, energy, relationships, and rules explain most “this won’t work” reactions.Treat “both bad” as a clue.
It often points to the wrong dial. The fastest win is redesigning the setup.Prefer new defaults over willpower.
A good setup makes the right choice easier without constant self-control.
Traps
Forcing symmetry.
Sometimes one direction really is worse.Using it to win an argument.
The point is shared clarity and better choices.Treating “both bad” as “do nothing.”
It usually means you need a different setup and a smaller first step.Ignoring hidden costs.
Switching costs and social friction can be real. Make them explicit.Going too abstract.
Keep it grounded in one situation. Find one new default you can actually try.
5) Closing: the practical payoff
Heavy decisions often stay heavy because they have no structure.
You see two directions, both feel wrong, and you postpone. Not because you are lazy, but because you do not know what you are optimizing, what you are protecting, or what breaks if you commit.
The Reversal Test with AI fixes that fast:
Analyze: surface the default, the real goal, and the constraints.
Propose: if both directions feel bad, redesign the setup with a better default.
Pressure-test: find what could go wrong while it is still cheap to adjust.
I ran this on a decision I had been carrying for too long: consultancy versus startup. The prompts did not decide for me. They gave me clarity and a safe path to act.
That is the point.
Not perfect answers. Deeper thinking, slower and faster, when it matters.