Helpful Ideas from Self-Help Books

What You Want: To make better big, tough decisions.

What to Try: Life presents us with millions of choices every day, but when we have to make the biggies—do I take this job? Do I marry this person? Is this my dream house?—most of us resort to the same old strategy: the pro-con list. The problem with that, writes Paula Rizzo, the author of Listful Thinking: Using Lists to Be More Productive, Successful and Less Stressed is that no one ever really taught us how to make such a list. The standard thought is that three pros and five cons means it's a no. But to get a clearer picture, write down all your pros and cons. No detail is too small! The key is to arrange both columns in terms of priorities. What seems most important? Put those at the top. The least important factors go at the bottom. Once you have a good first draft, sleep on it. When you come back to the list the next day, think about whether you need to re-prioritize? Can some items be taken off? Now...how does the list look—and what seems like the best choice? If you need further assistance, share the list with a friend, one who—you saw this coming—makes decisions you often admire.