Hey, it's Rachel Cook, your modern mentor. I'm the founder of Lead Above Noise, where we help

leaders rethink how the work gets done, like in ways that are hyperproductive, but that also

keep people well and engaged. We deliver the tools and skills so that leaders learn to build

human goodness into the work instead of relying on programs outside

the work. If your organization is ready for some fresh approaches to working, learn more about my

speaking, workshops, and coaching programs at leadabovenoise.com. So about 10 years ago, I decided it was time

to leave the full-time job I was in. I didn't know what I wanted to do

next, but I knew that I needed out. So I started interviewing and I ended up with this really

tempting offer at a brand name company. It was a great opportunity. It looked perfect on paper,

you know, but it would have required me moving my family across the country. Granted,

to the place where my husband is from and where all his family lives, so it was a real

possibility, one I thought we needed to consider. And so we did the thing you do. We made the

lists, the pros and the cons. We analyzed things to death, trying desperately to figure it out. Do we stay or do we go?

But as hard as we listed and analyzed, the stubborn bright answer refused to show itself.

Now, we all have our go-to things we do when we hit walls. Some people stress eat or phone a friend

or take a hot bass. Me, I watch TED Talks. I swear between

TED Talks and the entire catalog of the Golden Girls episodes, like all the ones ever made,

all of life's most profound questions can be answered. Anyway, I stumbled on this TED talk by a philosopher

named Ruth Chang, and it was all about making hard choices.

And she said something that totally shifted me. She said that the very definition of a hard choice

is that there is no right answer. There's only imperfect information and tradeoffs. And our job

isn't to figure out what the right decision is, but to make the best

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