There is a book called "Geek Logic" by Garth Sundem that has created a list of formulas for decision making.
It's quite a blast because it strips emotions out of decisions that SHOULD be logical in the first place. For example given the choice between buying a lottery ticket and putting the 5 bucks into savings the LOGICAL choice is save the money. But how many of us yield to logic?
Another example is to ask how many bad relationships have you gotten into by ignoring the logic of the situation?
Turning a choice into a mathimatical formula makes these decisions obvious.
It also prompted me to ask "What would be some useful decision making formulas that would help us through life?"
I came up with one that is "The ideal cult member."
Here are the variables:
Sanity = S (0 = psychotic stalker, 5 = Emotionally Stable )
Experimental = E ( 0 = fearful with lots of rules, 5 = fun loving gregarious and experimental )
Baggage = B ( 0 = broke, with kids, on meds with lots of issues , 5 = completely independant and making good income )
Attractive = A ( 1 = "I might have sex with if I were drunk", 5 = "I would have sex with 3 times for sure.", 9 = "I'd be happy having sex with this one forever." )
[ (S^2) x (2B) x E ] + A
Note that if S, B or E are zero it would bring the score down to single digits.
1253 = The ideal cult member
701 and up = Join my inner circle
501 to 700 = initiate to first level
99 to 500 = must pay for more training
9 to 99 = run
