Ne Costly

Skip the probe because the answer isn't worth what it costs to get; stop or find a cheaper observation.

It's 11pm and you've spent two hours comparing hotels for a two-night weekend trip. The surviving contenders differ by $19 and half a star. You are now purchasing certainty at a price no rational person would pay in any other store.

The rule: when the answer isn't worth what it costs to get, stop collecting. The cue is research effort visibly outweighing the stakes. Steps: price the remaining uncertainty (worst case, the slightly worse hotel costs you maybe $40 of mild regret), price the probe (two more hours of a finite evening, plus decision fatigue you'll carry into tomorrow), and compare. If the probe costs more than the answer is worth, either book one now and close the laptop, or grab a radically cheaper observation, like texting the one friend who stayed in that neighborhood last spring. What changes is proportionality across your whole life: minutes of research start matching dollars and consequences at stake, and whole evenings come back to you. The boundary matters, though: irreversible or high-stakes choices deserve the burden. This code trims waste on small decisions; it is not a standing license to skip checking on big ones.