“Make the little decisions with your head, and the big ones with your heart.”

Recently I’ve had a really incredible opportunity presented to me that I’ve been thinking a lot about. It’s the kind of decision that could change the trajectory of my career, and it’s impossible to know what the right choice is until after it all unfolds. To get some clarity on it, I consulted one of my mentors, Adam Braun, to help me figure out what I want to do.

Adam is an inspiring entrepreneur and social impact leader who has dedicated his life to driving positive change in the world. As someone who has navigated territory just like this in his own career, he gave me some very pointed perspective:

“Make the little decisions with your head, and the big ones with your heart.”

This was exactly what I needed to hear because I was aware of how “heady” I was making things. I had already arrived at a perfectly crafted story to explain how this opportunity was the culmination of everything I had been working toward. That this opportunity was only possible because of the years of hard work I’ had invested in being of service. And while all of that is true, it’s a thoughtful rationalization rather than an intuitive knowing.

Now, I’m giving myself space to do the real soul-searching. It’s insightful to observe some of the feelings and leanings that have already come up, and some of the factors that have been influencing my thinking behind the scenes. It makes sense to make the little decisions with your head. It’s strategic, thoughtful, and orchestrated around creating a certain result. But the big decisions, that has to come from the deepest parts of you.

In our conversation, Adam recounted how many times his head and heart had different things to say. How the thing that made logical sense wasn’t what he intuitively felt was right. And he shared how for the few times he trusted his head over his heart, it didn’t pan out like he thought it would or go according to plan.

So as you take in this wisdom, I want you to think about any big decisions you might be facing now, or decisions you might be facing soon. Tap into what your heart is guiding you to do and let that weigh heavily in your decision making process.

Two other tips he gave: 1) Engage your partner in the decision, because it impacts them, but ultimately communicate that the final decision is yours. And 2) If you can, allow yourself to take more time with big decisions because it creates more space for your intuition to shine.