The month of May has been filled with choices. Some are exactly the same as the ones I faced last month (what to eat, what to wear, what to watch), which is totally cool, but others have me weighing the pros and cons so many times that I've broken my mental scale.

Then I started reading the copy of Blink I purchased last month when I promised myself I wouldn't buy any more books. ;)

It turns out that our snap decisions aren't that far off the ones we make after spending a significant amount of time studying a situation. Our subconscious is a very powerful thing and picks up on external clues that we don't register until long after they started.

In the introduction author Malcolm Gladwell gives a brilliant example of what the curators at the Getty Museum went through to ensure that a piece they intended to add to their collection was not a fake. Core-sample tests were done by specialists, documents were checked and the statue was shipped across the Atlantic so that experts in that particular field could give their opinion.

Despite the "proof" that the tests provided, more than one expert felt a "significant negative emotion" upon looking at the statue for the first time. They couldn't explain why, but in their hearts they knew the piece was a fake.

Further investigation proved that the documents didn't add up and, despite the results of the scientific tests confiming the age and composition of the materials, the statue was declared a fake. While some experts made up their mind in 1.4 seconds, it took the Getty 14 months to reach the same conclusion.

Can you afford to spend 14 months on the wrong end of a decision? Neither can I.

So, I'm taking this lesson to heart so that I can focus my energies on the stuff I need to do, as opposed to the stuff I "should" do. There is a huge difference between the two, and one has a less cranky ending.

Hey, at least I'm being honest.