The best choice often looks a little boring from the outside.

Exciting options are usually exciting because of how they will be described, not because of how they go. Steady, unglamorous choices tend to win on the things that actually determine an outcome: lower risk, fewer moving parts, something you can keep doing when you are tired. They make a bad story and a good life.

When two options are close, ask which one you would still be fine with in a bad month. If the main appeal of the other is how it sounds out loud, that is worth saying to yourself plainly. Take the dull one occasionally and notice how little you miss the applause.