In How to Choose, the chap­ter explores the deci­sion-mak­ing process with­in cre­ative work, empha­siz­ing the role of com­par­i­son and instinct in refin­ing artis­tic choic­es. It draws a par­al­lel between devel­op­ing a cre­ative piece and a seed grow­ing into a tree, where every choice serves as a branch­ing point, shap­ing the final out­come. The ini­tial idea forms the foun­da­tion, much like the trunk of a tree, while each deci­sion sends the work in dif­fer­ent direc­tions, rein­forc­ing the con­cept that artis­tic evo­lu­tion is a series of delib­er­ate yet some­times intu­itive selec­tions.

Under­stand­ing and mak­ing these choic­es rely on the prin­ci­ple of rela­tion­al comparison—the idea that with­out some­thing to mea­sure against, eval­u­a­tion becomes mean­ing­less. Artists often strug­gle with deter­min­ing the best direc­tion for their work, as cre­ativ­i­ty offers end­less pos­si­bil­i­ties, mak­ing selec­tion a daunt­ing task. To nav­i­gate this com­plex­i­ty, the chap­ter advo­cates for A/B test­ing, a method of side-by-side com­par­i­son that allows cre­ators to direct­ly assess which option res­onates more.

A/B test­ing sim­pli­fies deci­sion-mak­ing by pre­sent­ing only two options at a time, min­i­miz­ing over­whelm­ing choic­es and sharp­en­ing focus. Whether decid­ing on col­or schemes, script revi­sions, or musi­cal arrange­ments, plac­ing two alter­na­tives next to each oth­er offers clar­i­ty. The text sug­gests that instinct plays a cru­cial role in this process—when faced with two choic­es, an individual’s nat­ur­al incli­na­tion towards one over the oth­er reveals a sub­con­scious pref­er­ence, mak­ing selec­tion more intu­itive rather than pure­ly ana­lyt­i­cal.

Blind test­ing is intro­duced as a method to remove pre­con­ceived bias­es, illus­trat­ing how artists, musi­cians, and design­ers can dis­cov­er unex­pect­ed pref­er­ences when unaware of which choice aligns with their assump­tions. For instance, in the music indus­try, pro­duc­ers have found that when artists lis­ten to record­ings with­out know­ing whether they were made using ana­log or dig­i­tal equip­ment, their choic­es are often sur­pris­ing. This method proves that per­son­al taste is some­times shaped by expec­ta­tion rather than true res­o­nance, rein­forc­ing the impor­tance of unbi­ased com­par­i­son.

When faced with par­tic­u­lar­ly dif­fi­cult choic­es, the chap­ter rec­om­mends a sim­ple yet reveal­ing technique—the Coin Toss Method. Rather than let­ting the out­come dic­tate the deci­sion, the key lies in observ­ing one’s imme­di­ate emo­tion­al reac­tion while the coin is in the air. If a per­son hopes for a spe­cif­ic result before the coin lands, their sub­con­scious has already made the deci­sion, demon­strat­ing that deep down, they know what they tru­ly want.

The over­ar­ch­ing mes­sage of the chap­ter is to trust instinc­tu­al reac­tions rather than over­an­a­lyz­ing cre­ative deci­sions. It argues that the purest form of artis­tic expres­sion emerges when choic­es are made with the same spon­tane­ity and unfil­tered clar­i­ty as chil­dren express­ing them­selves with­out hes­i­ta­tion. This unin­hib­it­ed approach allows artists to reclaim the raw sen­si­tiv­i­ty that often gets cloud­ed by exter­nal influ­ences, self-doubt, or adher­ence to con­ven­tion­al expec­ta­tions.

The chap­ter chal­lenges cre­ators to let go of restric­tive thought pat­terns and exter­nal pres­sures that can inhib­it orig­i­nal­i­ty. Many artists, in an effort to per­fect their work, over­think deci­sions to the point of paral­y­sis, when in real­i­ty, the best choic­es often stem from an intu­itive response rather than pro­longed delib­er­a­tion. By fos­ter­ing trust in one’s cre­ative instincts, artists can achieve greater authen­tic­i­ty, result­ing in work that feels more organ­ic and deeply per­son­al.

Anoth­er key take­away is that the most effec­tive deci­sions are not nec­es­sar­i­ly the ones backed by exten­sive jus­ti­fi­ca­tion but rather the ones that feel inher­ent­ly right. Through­out his­to­ry, some of the great­est artis­tic and cul­tur­al break­throughs were made by indi­vid­u­als who fol­lowed their gut instincts rather than con­form­ing to exter­nal expec­ta­tions. From choos­ing the per­fect note in a melody to select­ing the right shade in a paint­ing, many ground­break­ing moments in art and inno­va­tion have occurred because the cre­ator leaned into what felt nat­ur­al rather than what seemed log­i­cal.

The chap­ter encour­ages artists to strip away unnec­es­sary com­plex­i­ty in their cre­ative process, allow­ing deci­sions to flow nat­u­ral­ly instead of forc­ing them through exhaus­tive analy­sis. By embrac­ing this approach, cre­ators can cul­ti­vate a more intu­itive rela­tion­ship with their work, lead­ing to a sense of free­dom and con­fi­dence in their artis­tic choic­es. The ulti­mate goal is not to elim­i­nate thought­ful­ness but to strike a bal­ance between mind­ful selec­tion and instinc­tu­al flow, ensur­ing that cre­ativ­i­ty remains both inten­tion­al and unin­hib­it­ed.

Ulti­mate­ly, How to Choose rein­forces the idea that mak­ing deci­sions in art is less about find­ing a uni­ver­sal “right” answer and more about uncov­er­ing what aligns with one’s per­son­al vision. By prac­tic­ing A/B test­ing, engag­ing in blind com­par­isons, and learn­ing to rec­og­nize sub­con­scious pref­er­ences, artists can devel­op a method that enhances both their effi­cien­cy and cre­ative integri­ty. The more they trust their instincts and embrace the nat­ur­al rhythms of deci­sion-mak­ing, the clos­er they come to pro­duc­ing work that is authen­tic, pow­er­ful, and tru­ly their own.