Goal Triage

Sort conflicting outcomes into must-protect, threshold, optimize, and bonus, plus one tie-break rule.

Planning the family vacation has stalled because four things all "matter most": staying safe, everyone actually resting, the teenagers having fun, and hitting the famous sights. Every itinerary debate ends with someone proposing a compromise that scores decently on everything and satisfies no one, as if a blended average could settle what is really a values conflict.

Goal Triage stops the pretending. The cue: several desirable outcomes conflict and you keep hoping one combined score will resolve it. The move: sort each outcome into four tiers. Must protect: safety, no exceptions. Threshold to reach: the trip must be genuinely restorative. Optimize after thresholds: the kids' fun, maximize it once safety and rest are secured. Bonus: the attraction count. Then write one tie-break rule for the likeliest conflict, such as "when a marquee attraction collides with a rest day, rest wins." What changes: decisions that took hours resolve in minutes, because the hierarchy answers them. The warning built into the move: that hierarchy embeds someone's values and power. State who chose it and invite challenge, rather than hiding a value judgment inside what looks like math.