1. Making a difficult choice can seem harrowing when you feel you're working alone. Involve others in your decision making by asking for criticism and seeking advice from those who can approach the choice from a fresh perspective.

2. Learn from your mistakes as well as your triumphs. Examine decisions you have made in the past as they will teach you more than you will learn from most other sources. Though some decisions will not seem important, all decisions shape our lives and should be regarded as educational. Apply that knowledge to your current dilemma.

3. Involve your head and your heart. Ask both practical questions and personal questions about the problem at hand. Considering the facts as well as your feeling (and the feelings of other) examining your options will ensure that you make a balanced decision.

4. It was a wise person who noted that, "you can't please all the people all of the time." Almost all decisions will involved some dissatisfaction or conflict. Some decisions may even create new problems. Peer pressure is powerful.

5. Don't waste time on the poor choices. Reject poor choices, even if you've begun to implement them, and stop doing the things that aren't working, so you can focus on the solutions that have strong potential.





High on a hilltop overlooking the beautiful city of Venice, Italy, there lived an old man who was a genius. Legend said he could answer any question anyone might ask him. Two of the local boys figured they could fool the old man, so one of them caught a small bird in his hands and asked the old man if the bird was dead or alive. Without hesitation the old man said, "son, if I say to you the bird is alive, you will close your hands and crush him to death. If I say the bird is dead, you will open your hands and he will fly away. You see, son, in your hands you hold the power of life and death". You, without qualification, and with no mental reservations, must believe that: In your hands you hold your life's seeds of failure - or the potential for greatness. Your hands are capable but they must be used - and for the right things - to reap the rewards you are capable of attaining.