How Do I Know Which Path is Right?

My last job was a dream come true. After 10 years I had a great rack record, loved the work more than ever, and had a truly wonderful team. And I quit. 

The leaving was hard but the decision was easy. In a word: family. 

As I explained to my CEO at the time, “This is my worst career decision. But my best family decision. And I know which is more important”. 

We are often faced with tough calls. My clients frequently talk about being at a crossroads and not knowing which path is right. In most cases, they have spent many hours agonising over the pros and cons of each option. 

In my experience, we rarely make our big decisions that ledger-style way. Insofar as we use analysis, it usually comes after the fact, to rationalise a decision we’ve really already taken at some level. 

When I ask my clients how they made the biggest decisions in their lives – where to live, who to marry, whether to have children, where to travel – the answers are always the same: “It just felt right”. Yeah, me too. 

We don’t need more information – there’s never enough of that. 

We don’t need to seek out more people’s views – they’ll never agree. 

We don’t need to know how the decision will work out – we can never know that. 

 We just need to relax back into the inner source that has guided us in all those other big decisions – and is guiding us still, when we’re ready to listen. 

For anyone facing major decision and unsure of the right call, this one’s for you. 

If you step away from the ledger and reconnect to your inner guide, you may see there is no “right” decision, only what’s right for you. That there’s less riding on the decision than you thought – every path has opportunity, each leading to more paths. And, above all, that you (and no one else) already have all you need to know your next move.