I faced an impossible decision — one that keeps looping back, no matter how many times I think I’ve settled it.
I was stuck in this loop until life arranged itself in such a way that I had to make a real decision — to truly “cut off, cut out, settle, choose.” The finality of it hit me, and I knew I needed to approach this with clarity and intention.
So, I gave myself one day to let all the thoughts and emotions surface. My plan was to combine Benjamin Franklin’s two-column decision-making method with Expressive Writing and AI assistance.
Here’s how I did it:
Express All My Thoughts And Emotions About It
I used my favorite writing tool for dumping thoughts and emotions, ILYS, to pour out every little thing — uncensored, raw and unfiltered. You can use any tool for this, but ILYS happens to be awesome for it. (I might be biased… I made it.) The main thing is to get it all out, externalize the whole messy inner conflict to create some space and objectivity around it.
Let AI Organize the Chaos
I took my raw, unfiltered writing and pasted it into ChatGPT with this prompt:
“Hi. I am debating [insert decision here]. I just did a stream-of-consciousness writing session about it. Can you please dissect what I wrote and create a table with two columns: one for why I should [Decision A], and one for why I shouldn’t? Then summarize everything and tell me what you think the outcome is, and why.” Then, add the text of the dumping session.
Receive & Reflect
ChatGPT’s response exceeded my expectations. It created a clear breakdown of my swirling thoughts and emotions, organizing everything in a way that felt externalized and objective.
The process was profoundly liberating. First, emptying myself of the inner noise felt like a deep cleanse. Then seeing the chaos turned into actionable clarity helped me accept the right decision with confidence and peace.
If you’re wrestling with a tough choice, give this method a try. It combines timeless wisdom with modern tools, and for me, it made all the difference.
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