Every birthday of late, wise man Kevin Kelly shares things he learned the hard way, through living. 103 Bits of Advice I Wish I Had Known always offer big fat nuggets of wisdom and illumination, and many things to try.
Our favorite addresses our occasional dilemma of not being able to decide between two distinct choices, usually when our linear brain is packed with logical arguments for each one that leave us boggled.
If you can’t make up your mind between two options, flip a coin. Don’t decide based on which side of the coin came up. Decide based on your emotional reaction to which side came up.
This practice draws on the sinking feeling that can come when we’ve made a wrong choice and suddenly realize the true virtues of the other option. It’s useful if only to make apparent that less tangible, not-logic-driven, reasons for choosing something, which we could argue, are often essential.
If you don’t have a coin handy, you can use Random.org’s Coin Flip Decision Maker.
New York Time’s op-ed columnist David Brooks compiled his favorites from Kelly’s lists here.
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