Taste.
The quiet thing guiding everything you do.
Everyone has taste.
Not just artists or “creative people”.
You do too.
This is not about “good taste” or “bad taste”.
This is about noticing what feels true to you.
1. Taste is always there
We talk about taste like a label:
“Good taste.”
“Bad taste.”
“No taste.”
But taste is not a score.
It is just the sum of your small choices.
The mug you use every morning.
The side of the bed you sleep on.
The songs you never skip.
The people you feel safe with.
Most of the time you do not think, “This is my taste.”
You just feel, “This feels right,” or “This feels off.”
So the real question is:
If taste is already deciding so much…
do you want to leave it on auto-pilot, or pay attention to it?
2. Three simple moves: Feel → Question → Adjust
Here is one simple way to think about taste.
Feel – Notice what your body does.
Question – Ask if this is really your choice.
Adjust – Change one small thing so life fits you better.
2.1. Feel
Your body speaks first.
You walk into a room and your shoulders drop.
You hear a voice and your stomach gets tight.
You see a picture and you can’t look away.
That is taste.
No big logic. Just a pull or a push.
Try not to rush past these moments.
Even ten seconds of noticing is enough.
2.2. Question
As we grow up, we pick up other people’s taste.
“Our family doesn’t dress like that.”
“That music is stupid.”
“Real adults live like this.”
After a while, it’s hard to tell what you like.
So when you feel a strong yes or no, ask:
“Do I like this because it feels good in my chest…
or because it keeps me safe in someone else’s rules?”
You’ll find some things are yours.
Some are just habits.
2.3. Adjust
Once you see what feels real, change one small thing.
Move your desk to the window.
Wear the jacket you actually love.
Say no to one plan that drains you.
Say yes to one quiet night that feeds you.
Tiny shifts like this make your outer life match your inner taste.
3. Where your taste is hiding
Your taste is not only in the big choices.
It hides in small, almost invisible places.
3.1. In how you like to spend time
Some people have a taste for slow mornings.
Some have a taste for late nights.
Some feel alive in crowds.
Some feel alive in one-to-one talks.
Look at your day and ask:
“Which hours feel most like me?”
That is your taste showing through time.
3.2. In how you handle noise and silence
You might hate background noise when you work.
You might need music to even start.
You might love long, deep talks.
You might prefer short, light ones.
There is no “right” way.
There is only your way.
Your taste is there every time you reach for sound or for quiet.
3.3. In how you like rooms to feel
Forget style words.
Just notice:
Do you like empty space or full shelves?
Soft light or sharp light?
Warm colors or cool ones?
Bare floors or rugs?
You do not need the perfect home to see this.
Even how you set up one small corner shows your taste.
When you see these patterns, you start to understand yourself better.
You see that “taste” is not a fancy extra.
It is how you want life to feel.
4. Easy rituals to grow your taste
You don’t need a big plan.
Just a few gentle habits.
4.1 The “save it” folder
Make one folder on your phone: TASTE.
Any time something hits you - a photo, a room, a line, a color - save it there.
Once a week, scroll through. Ask:
“What do these all have in common?”
Maybe you see words like soft, bright, simple, wild.
That’s your taste speaking.
4.2 One breath check
When you step into a room, open a message, or face a choice:
Take one slow breath.
Notice: do you feel more open or more closed?
You don’t have to act on it every time. Just notice.
Over time you’ll see who and what gives you life, and who takes it.
4.3 One honest corner
Choose one small spot: a shelf, a desk corner, your bedside table.
Clear it.
Put only things you genuinely love there.
Not what was expensive.
Not what “fits the style”.
Just what makes you feel good when you see it.
That corner is a tiny mirror of your real taste.
4.4 The Monthly “Taste Wall”
Goal: Bring your taste into the physical world.
Once a month, turn your digital saves into something you can see at a glance.
Pick 9–12 images from your TASTE folder.
Print them (small prints are enough) or draw rough versions.
Put them on:
a wall
the inside of a door
a big sheet of paper
Look at this “wall” for a week.
Notice what no longer feels right.
Take 1–2 images down, add new ones.
Your taste wall is a live picture of who you are right now.
It will shift as you shift.
That is the point.
5. Taste is what sets you apart
The world makes it easy to copy.
Same clothes.
Same rooms.
Same type of posts.
Same ideas, just re-packaged.
But there is one thing no one can copy:
the way you feel things.
No one else has your exact mix of memories, joys, pains, and private loves.
That mix is your taste.
Soon, more and more things will look alike.
Most people will ask, “What’s trending?”
and bending themselves to fit that answer.
You can ask something harder:
“What do I love so much I would choose it even if nobody clapped?”
If you keep following that question:
Your work starts to look like you.
Your days start to feel like you.
Your life starts to sound less like an echo and more like a voice.
That is taste.
And it might be the most human advantage you have.
So the real tension is here:
Will you keep treating those choices as “no big deal”…
or will you let them become the line you build your life on?
And if you do…
what starts to change first?

Anisha,
I love the point of human advantage and how to get insight into your taste
Wonderful writing. Thanks!
"That is taste.
And it might be the most human advantage you have."
It definitely is. Felix Haas talks about the Founding Designer. The most important person in an organization is the taste-maker. The one sacrificing the right thing, giving the right direction.
I think it's way beyond branding. It's a statement. "We like this, we don't like that, this is who we are and who we want to become."
AI struggles with this. This isn't part of the pre-training. It has to be average at best. And average is mediocre.