Hat, Haircut, and Tattoo Decisions: A Better Way to Decide Almost Anything
Years ago, I stood in a store holding a sweater I didn’t need but really liked.
It wasn’t expensive. It wouldn’t change my life. And yet, I stood there debating it like I was deciding whether to quit my job.
At the same time, I was doing the opposite in other areas of my life. I tended to make impulsive, rushed, high-stakes decisions with far less thought than they deserved.
I was reminded of this dilemma when presented with the mental model James Clear shares in Atomic Habits: hat, haircut, and tattoo decisions (Clear, 2018).
Once I learned it, I started noticing how often I get decision-making backwards.
The Mental Model
James Clear breaks decisions into three categories:
Hat decisions are easy to reverse. You try them on. If you don’t like them, you take them off.
Haircut decisions take time to undo. You’ll live with the result for a while, but it’s not permanent.
Tattoo decisions are long-lasting or irreversible. They shape your identity and future options.
The issue isn’t poor judgment.
It’s misclassifying the decision.
Hat Decisions: Low Risk, High Learning
Buying the sweater was a hat decision.
The downside was limited. The upside was learning whether I’d actually enjoy wearing it. Either way, the cost of being wrong was small.
Hat decisions tend to be:
Low cost
Reversible
Rich in feedback
And yet, these are the decisions we overthink the most.
We hesitate to:
Try a new routine
Publish a piece of writing
Attend one class or event
Test a new tool or habit
Behavioral science consistently shows that small experiments reduce fear and increase action. This is the foundation of Eric Ries’ Lean Startup methodology, which emphasizes rapid experimentation and learning over premature optimization (Ries, 2011).
Psychologically, this works because it lowers perceived risk and bypasses loss aversion: the tendency to overweight potential losses relative to gains (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979).
Hat decisions aren’t about being right.
They’re about learning quickly.
Haircut Decisions: Commit, Then Revisit
Changing jobs, on the other hand, is not a hat decision.
It’s a haircut.
When I changed roles a few years ago, I knew I wasn’t locking myself into a permanent identity; but I also knew the decision would shape my skills, network, and trajectory for years. There were switching costs. I couldn’t just undo it next week.
Haircut decisions:
Require commitment
Have delayed feedback
Are reversible, but not instantly
Examples include:
Changing roles or career direction
Moving to a new city
Taking on a long-term project
Committing to a serious fitness or financial plan
Research on goal-setting shows that commitment paired with clear review points leads to better outcomes than either indecision or blind persistence (Locke & Latham, 2002).
Instead of asking, “Is this perfect?”
A better question is:
“Can I commit to this for a defined period and reassess honestly?”
Haircut decisions shouldn’t trap you, but they should be taken seriously.
Tattoo Decisions: Slow Down and Zoom Out
Then there are tattoo decisions.
For me, this looked like making a meaningful financial sacrifice early in my career: choosing flexibility and alignment over immediate compensation. That choice closed some doors while opening others.
Tattoo decisions tend to:
Be difficult or impossible to reverse
Shape identity
Influence future options in compounding ways
Examples include:
Marriage
Having children
Starting a company
Taking on significant debt
Publicly anchoring your identity to a role or belief
James Clear emphasizes that identity-based decisions are the hardest to undo, because once something becomes part of who we think we are, it reinforces future behavior (Clear, Identity-Based Habits).
This is why tattoo decisions deserve slowness: not fear, but reflection.
Tattoo decisions aren’t about efficiency.
They’re about alignment.
The Hidden Cost of Category Errors
Most decision-related stress comes from treating the wrong decisions as permanent.
Overthinking hat decisions leads to anxiety and stagnation
Rushing tattoo decisions leads to regret
Cognitive biases help explain why:
Loss aversion magnifies small risks
Social evaluation inflates trivial choices
Present bias downplays long-term consequences (Thaler, 1981)
Clarity returns when you ask:
What kind of decision is this, really?
A Simple Filter
When faced with a difficult choice, ask:
How reversible is this?
What’s the worst (realistic) downside?
What information will I gain by acting?
Then match your speed accordingly:
Hat → act quickly
Haircut → commit with a timeline
Tattoo → slow down and zoom out
Why This Matters for Habits and Growth
Most meaningful change doesn’t begin with a tattoo decision.
It begins with hat decisions repeated consistently.
Research on self-perception theory suggests that we infer identity from behavior, not intention (Bem, 1972). Small actions, repeated over time, quietly reshape how we see ourselves.
By lowering the stakes on most decisions, we make better ones on the few that truly matter.
So buy the sweater - or don’t - but don’t let it drain your energy.
Save that care for the decisions that will still matter years from now.
Does this idea resonate with you? Check out my works cited, or here's a short list of recommendations:
Atomic Habits by James Clear
The foundation. Clear’s work on identity-based habits explains why small, reversible actions compound into permanent change, and where the hat, haircut, tattoo framework fits into a bigger picture.
https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habitsIdentity-Based Habits (Article) by James Clear
A short, high-impact read that clarifies why some decisions feel permanent: once something becomes part of your identity, it’s much harder to undo.
https://jamesclear.com/identity-based-habitsThinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
A classic on how humans misjudge risk and consequence. Especially useful for understanding why we overthink low-stakes decisions and underestimate long-term ones.Hat, Haircut, Tattoo Decisions (Video)
A clear, accessible breakdown of the framework in video form. Great if you want a quick refresher or prefer visual explanations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHIXRo7zICM
