Picture Charlotte Salomon, a young Jewish artist in Nazi-occupied France. Her world was crumbling—war, persecution, the constant threat of death. Most would have crumbled with it, but not Charlotte. She picked up her brush and created an entire universe. In a desperate sprint against time, she painted her life in a series of over 700 gouaches, each frame a fragmented glimpse into her mind. This wasn’t just art; it was survival. Her problem was clear: how do you leave a mark in a world bent on erasing you?

PrOACT, though not named, shaped her every move. She wasn’t just an artist. She was a strategist, crafting her escape through color and canvas. Her objective wasn’t just to create beautiful pieces—it was to tell the truth of her experience, to capture her essence in the only way she knew how, before it was too late. Her alternatives? She could stop painting, go into hiding, wait for the war to end. Or she could throw herself into her work, a full-body embrace of art as resistance.

She chose the latter, knowing the consequences were brutal. Each brushstroke was a risk. If the Nazis discovered her, her work, like so many others’, would be lost to history. Yet the trade-off? Leaving behind a body of work that would scream louder than silence, a visual memoir that would outlast the war, and her life.

Creatives like Charlotte Salomon don’t just stumble upon brilliance—they choose it, over and over again, despite the odds. PrOACT is the blueprint they unknowingly follow, guiding them through the fog of fear and uncertainty. It’s the framework for every difficult decision you face as an artist, whether it’s the risk of showing vulnerability in your work, or the tension between safety and self-expression.

When the world seems determined to destroy you, PrOACT is the map that helps you find a way out, even if the only weapon you have is your art.

The Why

PrOACT emerged from the world of decision theory, a tool designed to bring clarity to complex choices. It was developed by Howard Raiffa and his colleagues at Harvard in the 1990s, originally for business leaders who needed to navigate high-stakes decisions with precision. But here’s the thing: the stakes are just as high for creatives. Every project is a crossroads, every brushstroke or word a choice with consequences.

The beauty of PrOACT for creatives lies in its simplicity. It forces you to break down your chaos into five clear steps: understanding the problem, defining your objectives, considering alternatives, evaluating the consequences, and making the necessary trade-offs. In a world full of noise and distraction, PrOACT is the map that cuts through the fog, guiding you toward your next masterpiece with purpose.

The How

So, you’ve got a challenge in front of you—whether it’s starting a new project, deciding on a creative direction, or navigating a fork in your artistic journey. PrOACT is your guide through the chaos. This isn’t just theory. It’s a framework that helps you channel your inner Michelangelo, making decisions with clarity and purpose, even when the stakes are high.

Here’s how you can apply PrOACT in five simple steps:

Define the problem: Get specific. What are you really facing? Is it a lack of inspiration, uncertainty about the medium, or fear of rejection? Strip it down to its core. No fluff. Just the hard truth.
Clarify your objectives: What’s the real goal here? Is it to create something that disrupts, something beautiful, or simply to ship and move on? Understanding what you’re truly after shapes every decision that follows.
List your alternatives: Brainstorm. What are your options? Go wild here—don’t just settle for the obvious. Think outside the box, consider collaborations, new mediums, or even taking a radical pause. Sometimes, the path less traveled is the breakthrough waiting to happen.
Weigh the consequences: Every choice has ripple effects. What happens if you go with Plan A? What about Plan B? Lay it all out, the good and the bad, the wins and the losses. Let yourself imagine the best and worst outcomes.
Identify trade-offs: Sacrifice is inevitable. What are you willing to give up to get what you want? Time? Money? Creative control? Knowing where you’ll compromise helps you move forward without regrets.

Pro-tip: When you’re stuck between choices, ask yourself, “What would I regret not doing in five years?” That single question often burns away the noise and leaves you with the real answer.

Mistakes to Avoid

Even with a solid framework like PrOACT, it’s easy to slip into common traps that sabotage your creative decision-making. Here’s how to steer clear of the most dangerous ones:

Overcomplicating the problem: Don’t overthink it. Keep the problem simple and focused, or you’ll drown in details that don’t matter.
Setting vague objectives: If you’re unclear on what you truly want, no decision will ever feel right. Be specific with your goals.
Limiting your alternatives: Falling in love with the first idea is tempting. Explore more options before locking into a single path.
Ignoring the long-term consequences: Don’t just think short-term. Consider how each decision impacts your creative journey years down the road.
Refusing to make trade-offs: Perfection is a myth. If you can’t let go of something, you’ll end up spinning your wheels.

The Art of Decisive Creativity

Every great piece of art, writing, or design begins long before the first stroke of a brush or keystroke. It starts in the mind, with a decision—a bold choice to create something that didn’t exist before. But the truth is, creativity isn’t just about wild inspiration or sudden flashes of genius. It’s about mastering the art of decision-making. Because behind every brilliant idea is a series of deliberate, calculated moves that turn potential into reality.

PrOACT is the difference between being a reactive artist, chasing fleeting inspiration, and a proactive creator, who shapes their own destiny. Think of it like this: a painter can wait for the perfect light, but a true artist will create brilliance in any condition because they know how to navigate uncertainty. That’s what PrOACT gives you—control, not over the chaos of the creative process, but over how you respond to it.

Take a filmmaker like Stanley Kubrick, for example. Every frame of his films feels intentional, each shot a calculated decision, even though the sets were often chaotic, the ideas constantly evolving. Kubrick knew that to break ground in cinema, he had to break from the comfort of certainty. He didn’t just accept problems; he reframed them as opportunities to innovate. His objective? Nothing less than excellence. His alternatives? Take risks in camera techniques, narrative structure, and even genre. The consequences? Some of his films confused or even alienated audiences, but others redefined what cinema could be. And the trade-offs? Time, budget, and occasionally his crew’s sanity, but the result was iconic.

For you, the stakes might not be as epic as a Kubrick film, but they’re just as personal. The choices you make now, using PrOACT as your compass, will shape your creative future. Do you continue down a familiar path or push into unknown territory? Do you follow trends, or do you start one? Each decision stacks, each consequence compounds, and before you know it, you’ve built something lasting, something meaningful.

Mental Models to Help You Leverage PrOACT

To use PrOACT like a pro, you need the right mental models. These aren’t just theoretical—they’re the mental shortcuts that creatives have used for centuries to make better decisions. Here are a few that will amplify your PrOACT process:

Survivorship Bias: Don’t just look at success stories when weighing alternatives—consider the failures that didn’t make it to the spotlight. What pitfalls did they fall into, and how can you avoid them?
Regret Minimization: When making a tough choice, ask yourself: "Which decision will I regret least in the long run?" This model helps cut through the fear of short-term discomfort for long-term fulfillment.
Opportunity Cost: Every decision has a hidden price—what are you giving up by choosing this path? Weigh the value of what you’re sacrificing against what you’re gaining.
Circle of Competence: Stay in your lane when necessary, but also recognize when you’re stepping out of your comfort zone. Understand what you’re truly skilled at and where you might need to seek help or further learning.
Sunk Cost Fallacy: Don’t throw good energy after bad. Just because you’ve invested time, money, or effort into something doesn’t mean you should keep doing it. Focus on future potential, not past investment.
Red Queen Effect: Sometimes staying in the same place requires you to keep running (in business or creativity). Be mindful of efforts that only keep you where you are, and push for genuine progress rather than just survival.
Availability Heuristic: Don’t let the most recent or emotionally charged information dominate your thinking. Just because something is fresh in your mind doesn’t mean it’s the most relevant or significant.

PrOACT isn’t just a decision-making framework; it’s a creative power tool. Whether you’re standing before a blank canvas or a blank page, you now have the right tool to carve out a path toward your next masterpiece.