How to know if you’re making the right decision (before your mind talks you out of it)

A 2-second filter for internal authority—when the stakes are real.

Upgrade now and reclaim the 15-20 hours you’re losing to fog + false urgency each week. Already a paid member? You’re set.

The boundary between knowing and negotiating.

On the CME trading floor, you don’t get a long runway.

You have seconds to decide: execute the trade—or don’t.

Your mind wants to analyze, calculate, second-guess. It wants to protect you from regret.

But by the time you finish thinking, the opportunity is gone. Or worse: you hesitate, act late, and pay for it.

That environment taught me something many high-achievers never trained to do:

Decide from signal, not from story.

Years later, when my life fell apart, I needed that same skill again—just applied to real life instead of markets.

After my second child was born, everything that looked “stable” from the outside wasn’t. Money, identity, partnership—gone. I was between careers and building what would eventually become a Whole Foods product. Every decision felt loaded. My mind became a loop: analysis → fear → justification → repeat.

So I rebuilt the only thing that reliably creates clarity under pressure:

a decision protocol that moves faster than mental negotiation.

It became the most effective tool I’ve ever used—because it doesn’t give the mind enough time to start lobbying.

The 2-Second Filter

This takes less than a breath.

Stand with your elbows at your sides, forearms parallel to the floor, palms up—like you’re holding a question in each hand.

You’re going to ask two questions. After each one, you clap immediately.

Not in five seconds. Not after you “think about it.” Immediately.

Question 1: “Does this come from love?”

Definition (I know ‘love’ can feel loaded—here’s exactly what I mean):
Love = a clean yes. No contraction in your chest. No self-betrayal. No “I’ll resent this by Thursday.”

Ask the question.

Then clap within one breath.

If the answer isn’t a clear, instant YES by the time your hands meet, it’s a no (or a not-now). Your body hesitated because your mind was already building a case.

Question 2: “Does this have integrity (does it align with who I’m becoming)?”

Integrity = your future operating system. The person you say you’re becoming: under stress, in public, behind closed doors.

Ask it.

Clap again.

Same rule: instant yes or it’s a no.

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This 2-second filter works. But the real win is the system that protects your 3pm cognitive function so you’re not making decisions from depletion. Upgrade to Paid for the Assessment + protocols + strategy guides that help you reclaim those lost hours.

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This works because you’re catching signal before your fear, ego, or approval-hunger can hijack the decision.

Both need to be a YES for the decision to get the green light.

When the Filter Doesn’t Work

A doctor I studied with once told me there was a period in his life when his internal signals were so scrambled that even this wouldn’t work. His truth? He had to do the exact opposite of what he believed to be the right move.

That’s real.

When you’re chronically dysregulated—sleep-deprived, underfed, overstimulated, living on urgency—your system can misread signal.

If that’s you right now, don’t shame yourself. Calibrate first:

• Eat one warm, on-time meal for a few days.

• Take 12 slow breaths before you eat.

• Get one earlier night of sleep.

Then use the filter.

And if you have to decide today while you’re scrambled: choose the option that reduces chaos and restores capacity. Make the decision that gives you back your brain.

Why This Works (Mechanism, not motivation)

Your body registers truth faster than your mind can narrate it.

But if you give your mind even three seconds, it will:

• rationalize what you don’t actually want

• argue for the “practical” choice that costs you later

• remind you of past mistakes to keep you small

• outsource your authority to optics

The clap is the boundary.
It’s the line between knowing and negotiating.

Most high-achievers have trained themselves to override signal:

• push through fatigue

• say yes when they mean no

• take on work that looks good on paper but drains them

• make 4pm decisions from depletion that undo their 9am brilliance

This practice retrains speed: signal first. story later.

Where This Matters

1. Work decisions
   Projects that look lucrative can still be expensive—because they cost your time, your nervous system, and your best thinking.

This filter has saved me from countless “smart” choices that would have quietly destroyed my capacity.

2. Meetings + commitments

   • There’s dread that’s a signal of growth: “this scares me, I need to do it.”

   • And then there’s dread that’s a signal of misalignment: “I already resent this.”

   • The filter helps you feel the difference fast.
     
     

3. Relationships
   What’s true to say, when to speak, and when to hold a boundary.
   
   This doesn’t make you perfect. It makes you honest before you get reactive.
   
   

4. Rest vs push
   Rest isn’t a wellness indulgence. It’s a performance strategy when your executive function is on the line.

The Cost of Ignoring Internal Authority

• Saying yes, then resenting it by week two

• Working until 9pm on the wrong things

• Hesitating on the right opportunity until it closes

• Cleaning up avoidable mistakes

• Snapping at the people you love because you’re maxed out

• Living “successfully,” but waking with dread

• Making decisions you regret immediately—and then living inside them

That’s not a time-management problem. That’s an authority problem.

The ROI of Two Seconds of Honesty

• Hours saved from second-guessing

• Cleaner decisions, faster

• Fewer messes to clean up later

• Work that actually matters

• Relationships that improve because you’re not depleted and reactive

• A competitive advantage: you can still think clearly at 4pm

How to Start

Use the filter for 7 days on small decisions:

• What to eat for lunch

• Whether to take that meeting

• Whether to respond to that email now or later

• Whether to work or rest this afternoon

Notice what happens. Notice how often your instant answer is different from what your mind justifies three seconds later.

Notice how many times your body was right.

Then use it for bigger decisions. The mechanism doesn’t change. Only the stakes do.

You don’t need more analysis.

You need a way to protect the signal—before your mind talks you out of it.

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Your mind will keep negotiating forever. Your body already knows.

If you want the implementation layer—Assessment + protocols + scripts—upgrade to Paid. This is how high-achieving women stop working until 9pm on the wrong things and start making clean 4pm decisions again.

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—Savitree
I teach women to restore the cognitive capacity their work depends on