Bad decisions cost time and money.
A four-Saturday live class that sharpens your judgement and makes you a great decision maker in your career, finances, relationships and life.
Smart people make the same kind of costly mistake in every part of life because they decide on emotion, not method.
You resigned to prepare for an exam or start something new. It didn't work. Now every recruiter asks about the two-year gap before they ask about your skills.
You saved carefully for years. Then a friend's stock tip or an F&O trade looked easy, and the savings went in months.
A cousin or close friend asked for a loan or your credit card. You couldn't say no. They never paid back. You lost the money and the person.
Your parents chose your degree, your city, or pushed you to buy a flat at 25. You're still paying for a life you didn't pick.
By 21 November, you will:
- Decide in days, not months.One process for the job offer, the flat, the loan, the move.
- Know when to stop researching.Most extra research is just delaying because you're scared.
- Say no without guilt.To the stock tip, the transfer, the relative asking for money, the pushy recruiter.
- See who benefits from your choice.Before you make it, not after.
- Catch the mistake before it costs you.Sunk cost, following the crowd, panic. You'll recognise them as they happen.
- Stop regretting afterwards.When you decide with a method, you don't keep replaying it.
What you’ll do in the four Saturdays
SAT · 10 OCT · 10 AM · Session 1Why smart people still decide badly
You did well in exams. You're good at your work. And one bad call still cost you a year, or a few lakhs. Why? Because school taught you to find the right answer, and real decisions don't have one. You'll see how your brain gets it wrong, and catch yourself doing it.
- Lokesh tells two real decisions from his own life and stops before the choice. You vote on what he should do. Then he tells you what he did, and what it cost.
- A short talk: how the brain makes choices, and why school never taught this.
- You write down the one decision you're stuck on.
After: you know what goes wrong, and when.
SAT · 17 OCT · 10 AM · Session 2When fear decides for you
The offer you kept thinking about until it was gone. The investment you researched for a year and never made. The talk you keep putting off. Why does more thinking make it harder, not easier? You'll learn when you know enough, and how to decide on that day.
- A quick recap of session 1.
- Real decisions from people in your class, told as stories with the details changed. You vote, then solve each one with Lokesh using two simple questions.
- You use the same two questions on your own decision.
- Two proven frameworks for decision making. One book to read.
After: you decide when you have enough, and you know what enough is.
SAT · 24 OCT · 10 AM · Session 3When other people decide for you
The degree your parents chose. The flat they pushed you to buy. The loan you couldn’t refuse a cousin. The stock everyone at work was buying. Why is "no" so hard with the people closest to you? You’ll learn to see what each person wants from your choice, and to decide without losing them.
- Recap.
- More real decisions from the class, about pressure from family, friends and the crowd. You vote, then solve them with two more questions.
- A discussion on how to say no to people you love, and three lines you can use.
- More proven frameworks for decision making.
After: the decision is yours, and you can say why.
SAT · 31 OCT · 10 AM · Session 4When you decide too fast.
The resignation you were sure about. The trade that looked easy. The business you put your savings into. Why are we most certain just before our worst decisions? You'll learn the few checks that catch a bad decision while it's still free.
- Stories of fast decisions, good ones and terrible ones.
- One last real decision from the class, solved using the frameworks.
- You run your own decision through the page and make it.
After: it's made, and you can explain it in two lines.
Lokesh Motwani
I am building Badge, where colleagues leave each other anonymous reviews so people can be hired on reputation instead of referrals. It was Product Hunt’s number one product of the day. I also invest my own money in early startups.
Before Badge I was VP of Engineering at Simpl, running Simpl Checkout. I defined the problem with the business head, built a team of 150 from nothing, and shipped the first version in three months. Returned shipments for our merchants fell 40%.
Before that, Amazon, where I built machine learning to catch fake clicks on ads, and redBus. I started at Accenture in 2008, the same way most people reading this started.
I have founded three companies. SkillSpace, an edtech platform I bootstrapped, which YourStory wrote about. KetchUp, a social app. And Badge.
Investing my own money is the closest thing to this course. You decide with money on the line and never enough information. Same problem as a job offer or a flat, just with more repetitions.
And I have got plenty wrong. Business partnerships that failed. Choices made under pressure I would not make again. Those cost me years, and they are why I teach this rather than a course on engineering.
Take one of the 40 seats.
Before you enroll.
Who is this for?
Anyone who has paid for a bad decision and does not want to repeat it, or who is stuck on one right now. It can be about work, money, family or anything else.
Will my decision stay private?
Yes. Only Lokesh reads it. He uses a decision in class only if you say yes, and only with the details changed. Your name is never used.
Is this in Hindi or English?
Hinglish. A mix of Hindi and English, the way most of us talk at work.
What if I miss a Saturday?
Sessions are live and are not recorded. Every session starts with a short recap of the last one. Try not to miss any, and do not miss session 4.
Can I get a refund?
No. Fees are not refundable. There are only 40 seats, and a seat you take is a seat someone else could not.
How do I pay?
Fill the form above. The next screen is payment through Razorpay. You can pay by UPI, card or net banking.
What happens after I pay?
You get a receipt by email. The Zoom link and session 1 details come on WhatsApp before 31 Oct.
Will you tell me what to decide?
No. You learn how to decide. The decision stays yours.