“If you can’t decide, the answer is no.”

A few days ago I had lunch with an old friend and former colleague.

She has been in the same company for more than a decade. Long enough to know the business, the people, the politics, the unwritten rules, and probably where a few bodies are buried.

She is now thinking about leaving... or not... depending on the day.

On good days, she thinks she should stay. The company is familiar, the role is solid, the reputation is there, and the alternative feels uncertain.

On bad days, she thinks she should leave immediately. Too much friction, too little energy, too many compromises, too many small signals that something has already expired.

As she was talking, I remembered a brutal little heuristic I have always liked:

If you can’t decide, the answer is no.

Some decisions are genuinely complex. Some require more data, more time, more courage. Life would be very easy if every difficult choice could be outsourced to a slogan on the internet.

But this one has teeth.

Especially when the decision is optional.

A new role.

A project.

A client.

A partnership.

A board opportunity.

A next chapter.

When the answer is truly yes, there is usually some pull and clear energy. You should be able to feel it.

When the answer keeps changing with the last meeting, the last frustration, or the quality of last night’s sleep, maybe the indecision is not noise… maybe it is the signal you are looking for.