From The Heart.

Today's Marketing Cookie is a priceless truth that may cost you everything.

As a marketer, I can tell you that my gut is always much smarter than my head. In some cases, I didn't have the numbers to prove why my risky campaign idea would work; I just knew in my gut that it would. I've conducted extensive market research and run multiple focus groups to find answers, and although my head (and the client) wanted to follow the results and the data, my gut disagreed. I've learned that your head thinks, while your gut knows.

Today's fortune, however, is not about listening to your gut or your head. No. We're talking today about making decisions straight from the heart, which is an entirely different thing altogether. The heart ignores all forms of logic. The heart has no use for reason. The heart doesn't care much about data and doesn't understand analytics. The heart might try looking at numbers and money, but what is the use of that when the heart pretty much stinks at all forms of math? So, with all these deficiencies, what type of decisions could the heart possibly make?

Only the best ones.

In 1992 I had no money, couldn't afford to finish college, had no place to live, and no full-time job. Although I was working three part-time jobs and trying to be an actor in NY, I really had nothing going for me... except for a wonderful girl. This girl ignored logic, reason, and all consideration for money and agreed to marry me. We followed the craziest, nonsensical, and misdirected compass of all... our hearts.

We were married in her parent's living room in front of a dozen people who unified their hearts to support us. No one spoke of logic or asked questions of reason or money. Our wedding was a beautifully intimate moment with the people I love, and one of the most precious memories I keep. There wasn't any fanfare, no big wedding party, and there wouldn't be a honeymoon.

In fact, one of the jobs I had at the time was during the third shift, loading trucks for UPS. Our wedding was on November 28th which was the height of the busiest season for UPS, and I was unable to get my wedding night off. Does that make any sense? Absolutely—if you listen to your heart. As today's fortune suggests, we listened to our hearts, and we used our heads to work it all out later.

That is, in fact, what we did.