Illustration by Aneeque Ahmed

People often come to me with their problems. Yet, I rarely offer a solution, and almost always ask many difficult questions.

So why me? What do I have to offer that even people who barely know me will open up and share their stories? I’m far from being a sage. Still, people come to me with their thoughts and feelings in the hope I’ll be able to help them in some way.

The reason? They’ve seen the changes I made and how those have positively shaped my life.

It’s only been recently I’ve been able to think clearly and make smart decisions. For many years I made one bad decision after the other. I was hurting myself physically and emotionally by not taking care of my body nor my thoughts.

At one point I looked like the Michelin guy: bloated, with a fake smile.

Life caused me to rethink my journey, and to go back to college to study psychology. Through this article, I’ll explain how I now approach decision making, and why I make smarter decisions every day.

My thinking is mostly based on three pillars that fit together tightly: