If you’d be proud to tell your little cousin about it, go for it. If you’d lie about it, that’s the answer.

Imagining a specific young person listening cuts through a surprising amount of rationalising. You cannot explain away a choice to someone who takes what you say at face value, which forces the plain version of what you are about to do. The test works because it removes the audience you were actually performing for.

Run the next uncertain decision past that imagined listener. If the honest telling would need editing, you have your answer without having to argue it further.