Decisions originate as emotions.

Imagine yourself being given a jet pack. Strapping it on, taking to the sky free as a bird, you gracefully fly over a stream, then pull up, turn in a loop, and steer around the clouds for a bit. Was that path rational? Absolutely not. And that’s fine. Our lives don’t have to be rational, we can simply decide to pursue whatever we like, but imagine that jet pack flight taking 40 years like your career, at times gliding in a straight path for a few years maybe part of the flight, but eventually, you’ll want to turn and loop. What do you suppose those are in reference to your career? A new position?

However, we’re often not as free in our decision-making as the jet pack scenario. Being stuck is common and it’s frustrating. Consider the cliche of the tortured artist. Why are they so tortured? It’s all the decisions! About all the details. Without a framework, it’s tough to deal with all of that. They can’t figure out the right decision to make to represent what they want in their art piece. Or they “feel” what they want to represent, but can’t put a word to it, so they can’t move on.

I’ve put together an article about decision-making and it may be worth a look.