The late great Beat poet Allen Ginsburg advocated a decision-making process he labeled, First thought, best thought. Believing his optimal poetry efforts invariably came about when he stuck to his initial thought about how to express them, he worked hard at nixing the inner, nagging self-doubts that invariably crop up in a writers mind. As such, he rarely re-wrote i first drafts except for minor tweaking. Rather than agonizing over the merit of his first conceptualization for a poem, he just went with it, taking his chances that his readers would react to the work favorably as well.

How could Ginsburgs process have anything to do with business or personal life decisions? Could first thought, best thought survive in our world of needs assessment studies and endless project meetings? Apparently yes if research emanating from Southern Methodist University (SMU) has anything to say about it. In a study of test-taking, published in the Journal of Educational Psychology, analysts there have observed that when one gets help from a test in the form of multiple-choice answers, more often than not such assistance actually leads test-takers astray.

Offered false multiple-choice alternatives, test-takers were found to be incorrect more often than when given tests asking for their answers only. Time spent mulling over suggested alternatives, even false ones, rather than trusting their own instincts, tended to generate self-doubts among test-takers. As a result, they frequently chose answers they hadnt even considered when first reading the question.

If you sit and stew, you forget that you know the right answer, explains Alan Brown, a psychology professor at SMU. Lesson learned? Trusting your impulse is your best strategy.

How useful might this be to improving your prowess as a manager or parent? Ask yourself how often, and for how long, you sit and stew over a problem, especially at work. How many alternatives and opinions do you typically consider? Have you ever regretted a big decision? Was it made on a first thought basis or via lengthy deliberation or rumination?

A creativity experiment Ive conducted on occasion for my clients underscores this hypothesis. I give a problem-solving team two minutes to learn all it can about a particular problem. But 15-20 minutes is given another team. Consistently, the two-minute squad comes back every time with an array of more inventive solutions. The long-deliberating time tend to ask for more time!

So when youre next facing a critical decision, consider attacking the problem the way Allen Ginsburg used to do. Allow yourself to choose your initial inner response, and go with (in other words) your gut! You may end up forgoing the time, expense and agony of more thorough evaluations and still get the job done right.