When facing a difficult choice that creates persistent unease or uncertainty, it's often a signal that the correct path is to decline or opt out. This heuristic, borrowed from investor Naval Ravikant, helps cut through complex analysis paralysis, especially in situations with ethical ambiguity.

Prioritize your intuition over pure logic in decision-making, treating your gut as your "primary brain." Following it and failing is better than ignoring it for someone else's logic and failing, as the latter creates profound self-doubt and regret.

To tap into your intuition, stand neutrally and state a decision or concept aloud. Your body's subtle forward (love/truth) or backward (fear/falsehood) movement acts as a physical barometer. This "muscle testing" provides clarity beyond the mind's rationalizations.

To avoid constant rumination after a major life change, pre-schedule a future date to formally evaluate the decision (e.g., "In six months, I'll ask if I'm happy here"). This frees up mental energy by containing the worry to a specific point in time, allowing you to focus on the present.

The brain's emotional center is five times stronger than its rational part. When triggered by stress, it shuts down executive function. A deliberate 90-second pause is a powerful antidote that allows the physiological wave of emotion to pass, enabling clearer, more considered decision-making.

The necessary training for intuition is not to improve it, but to learn to listen to it without second-guessing. People often override a valid fear signal because of social pressures, like not wanting to appear rude or prejudiced. The key is to trust the initial feeling and make a low-cost decision based on it, like waiting for the next elevator.

The process of following your intuition is more important than the outcome. It eliminates the anxiety from going against your gut, making even 'wrong' decisions feel right and leading to less regret.

Designer Debbie Millman uses a powerful heuristic for big decisions. After vacillating for four months over a CEO job offer, her boss noted the long delay likely meant she didn't want it. This reframed her indecision not as fear, but as her intuition trying to surface the correct answer.

Adopt a new operating system for decision-making. Instead of evaluating choices based on an unattainable standard of perfection, filter every action through a simple question: does this choice result in forward progress, or does it keep me in a state of inaction? This reframes the goal from perfection to momentum.