Describe an important decision that you made.

The decision I'd like to talk about is turning down a well-paid job offer three years ago in order to stay where I was and finish a professional qualification.

At the time I was halfway through an evening course, and out of the blue a larger company offered me a position with a salary about forty per cent higher. The catch was the hours. It was obvious from the interview that I'd be working late most nights, which would have meant giving up the course.

I didn't decide quickly. For about a week I went back and forth, and I did something I'd never done before: I wrote out what my life would look like in five years under each option. I also rang a former manager whose judgement I trust, and she asked me a single question — which choice would I regret more? Put like that, the answer was clear, so I thanked the company and declined.

The results weren't instant. For the next year I watched friends earn more than me, and there were moments when I doubted myself. But I passed the qualification, and within six months of that I was promoted into a role I couldn't have applied for without it. It pays better than the job I turned down.

It mattered because it was the first time I'd chosen the slower option on purpose. Up to that point I'd simply taken whatever looked best in the short term, and that week taught me to ask where a choice leads, not just what it offers today.