You probably know what a post-mortem is, right?
That’s when we failed (whatever that means), and in order to learn from it and to give it our best effort so that it never happens again, we tease out every single detail of what went wrong.
Then there is the PRE-mortem, which serves a different purpose.
A pre-mortem can help us to avoid failure, but it can also help us figure out many other things.
It looks like this: BEFORE anything happens, and usually in expectation of a big event, we try and paint absolutely the worst scenario of an outcome. Once we cannot go any sordid, we try to sort out what are the different events that could lead us to that outcome. This way, we can put in extra effort in avoiding these.
But pre-mortems serve another purpose as well. They allow us to imagine the future in a way that our optimistic selves won’t ever think about. It allow us to make better decisions, as little as that last glass of wine, or piece of cake; to embarking in law school, or plastic surgery. It allows us to ask the question, “will this make us happy (satisfied/proud/secure/etc.), even if it doesn’t go the best way?”, or will I have eaten that last piece of cake if I knew it would make me sick?, would I have enrolled in law school even if wouldn’t be able to get a job at the top firm?, would I still go trough surgery if it complicates and I am in pain for way longer than normal?, you get the idea.
Your decision between two options is not clear, try a pre-mortem.