“I make good decisions,” I announced yesterday, surprised as the words left my mouth.

I often categorize myself as indecisive, so I was taken aback by my own declaration. When I truly analyze the past, few bad decisions come to mind—except purchasing rollerblades from Amazon.

I don’t think I make choices that leave people asking, “Can you believe Drew did that?” I suppose that could mean I’m too predictable—or that I’m unhinged enough that nothing is surprising. In reality, though, I think it’s that most of my decisions are reasonably well thought-out.

Although I tend to make sound decisions, the real point of friction is how long it can take me to do so. Often, in college, a professor would assign a paper or speech, and an idea would immediately pop into mind. However, instead of acting on that impulse (my intuition!), I’d tell myself a better idea might come along. Then, two days before the assignment was due, I’d frantically get started on my original idea.

Even though I’m relieved after I make decisions, I still banish myself to the Land of Indecision more often than I’d like. These situations often result from NOT following my intuition. Deep down, I know what I want, but I let external factors creep in—like guilt, fear, or other shoulds.

It makes me think of some decision-making tricks I’ve heard, like the one about flipping a coin. Assign each choice heads or tails and, when the coin is in the air, you’ll know what you really want.

I stumbled upon another gem of decision-making advice this morning. If a decision feels difficult, good news! It means both choices are solid, so it’s an easy decision after all; you’re doing the best you can with the information you have. Just choose.

(^ I needed to read that today. Sometimes I wait for the “right” choice to emerge in situations where that will never happen—i.e., I do nothing at all.)

This morning, I also learned the paradox of Buridan’s ass. In this hypothetical, a donkey is midway between a pail of water and a bale of hay. It’s hungry and thirsty and can’t decide which to consume, so it ultimately dies of both hunger and thirst. Sometimes I am that ass. (Sometimes my maturity level is also that of an eleven-year-old!)

Here’s to making decisions, baby!

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For the sake of accountability, here are some ways I followed my intuition this week:

• While letting the dogs out Wednesday, I noticed how good it felt on that sunny, 70-degree [January] day. I decided I wasn’t in a hurry, plopped down onto the porch stairs, and read for a while.
• On Thursday, after a somewhat hectic day, I felt super dozy at 6:30 p.m. and wanted to take a nap. I feared it would disrupt my sleep that night and blah blah nonsense. I took a 2.5-hour nap anyway.
• I had one of those bone-deep chills yesterday and thought a bath would be nice. My thinking brain was like, “But it’s warm outside. But you’ve got work to do. But [insert dumb reason].” And I started running the water for the bath.