the idea is older than him, but piet hein put it into verse very nicely:
A PSYCHOLOGICAL TIP
Whenever you're called on to make up your mind,
and you're hampered by not having any,
the best way to solve the dilemma, you'll find,
is simply by spinning a penny.
No -- not so that chance shall decide the affair
while you're passively standing there moping;
but the moment the penny is up in the air,
you suddenly know what you're hoping.
A mentor once advised me when I was in the manager roll of deciding to lay off or not lay off someone, to write on the board two columns, "pros" and "cons". Then write the first one that came to mind (either pro or con) and that was the decision. If the first thing you thought of was what was a real benefit then keep them, if the first thing you thought of was a consequence, then lay them off. The theory is that you have already ordered and prioritized the pros and cons for this if you've been thinking about it, and you naturally order them in your thinking in magnitude. So doing the physical action pulls that ordering out of your brain and into the open.
I just flip the coin and then do the opposite of whatever it says because, in my mind, it is just a stupid coin and will naturally make the worst decision. So far so good... one day I may meet a smart coin and regret this method though.
"Because when that coin is in the air, you suddenly know what you're hoping for."
Sounds waay too easy. The one you are hoping for depends not on what is the best decision but rather in you.
And for many I'd imagine that the one they are hoping for happen to be the decision that has the best short-term benefits.
Most hard decisions are hard because of uncertainties and those don't become clear because of a coin flip. And even if you find yourself hoping for something doesn't mean that that is the right thing to do but just as much as what else you want to escape.
Making the right decision is often hard, hoping isn't.
Another good mental technique is to think about the work week or period ahead of you after doing something you enjoy. If you find that the thought of it makes you irritated or unhappy, you need to immediately stop and figure out why. Is it the project you are working on? Is it your manager? Is it your team? Is it the company?
Whatever it is, it always warrants a serious conversation with your manager. Ideally, it is something within your or your manager's control.
I've heard it as, if it comes out the way you want, you'll have no problems with that. OTOH, if you catch yourself thinking "best two out of three", then you know what you want.