• Home
  • About Sherry
  • Work with Sherry
    • Job Search Club
    • Job Search Power Hour
    • Women in Technology leadership programme
    • Corporate workshops
    • BOOK A CONVERSATION
  • Success stories
  • Resources
    • Get career confidence tips every week
    • FREE online class – how to make 2021 your best year yet
    • DOWNLOADS
    • • Job Search with Ease in a Pandemic eBook
    • • FREE The Ultimate Job Interview Checklist
    • • FREE LinkedIn Content Plan
    • ONLINE COURSES
  • The Book
    • About the book
    • Sample chapter and reading
    • About the author
    • Media
    • Interview with the author
  • Blog
  • Speaking
  • Contact Sherry

The Confident Mother

Helping ambitious women in technology manage their career with confidence and purpose

9th September 2019

How to make difficult decisions when you feel conflicted

I came up with the idea for The Confident Mother Book Club last year while recovering from cancer treatment.

I wanted to read more books on personal development, mindset growth and career confidence but didn’t know where to start with choosing a book. 

Lightbulb moment – join a subscription book club. 

But I couldn’t find one that specialised in books to inspire me to think, act and grow. So I created my own subscription book club. 

And I have LOVED LOVED LOVED doing it …. however it takes a lot of time to wrap the books, write out the postcards, visit the post office etc.

One thing I have learned this past year is that I need more time to look after me. Seems obvious because it’s what I tell my clients ALL.THE.TIME.

Look after yourself first. 

I was really conflicted

I was really conflicted … should I keep going or should I stop? Would my subscribers judge me if I stopped after ten months? What about the investment I’ve made – time and money? And how will it affect how I feel about books?

Deep down, if I’m really honest with myself, will people think I’m a failure? Will people still love me?

One of my biggest insights from the book club and the books I’ve been reading is how I’d been holding back from buying books.

I LOVE books and I love reading. Yet I hadn’t given myself permission to read for my own personal development reasons.

I was being too logical, too analytical. Trying to justify purchases when there is no bigger justification than to think, act and grow!

How I made the difficult decision

I was finding this a really difficult decision.

Then I asked myself: if a client was struggling to make a decision, what would you recommend? I remembered the Cartesian questions.

The Cartesian questions are a way of opening your mind to explore possibilities. They can be incredibly powerful … when you respond instinctively.

I asked myself these questions and the decision was made easy.

Question 1 – What would happen if you DO stop the book club?

Question 2 – What would happen if you DON’T stop the book club?

Question 3 – What wouldn’t happen if you DO stop the book club?

Question 4 – What wouldn’t happen if you DON’T stop the book club?

The easy decision

My easy decision is that I will no longer run the book club in its current (subscription) format.

The current book, Playing Big by Tara Mohr, will be the last I send out.

The good news

The Confident Mother Book Club will still run, every other month. But it will be free. And online. And anyone can join.

I’ll still run the live calls for book club members which will be advertised in the Facebook group.

You’ll buy your book directly which gives you more freedom and flexibility to choose from hard copy or audio version or even borrow from the library.

Decisions + actions = energy + freedom

As with any difficult decision, once it was made, it was so much easier to take action.

The Confident Mother Book Club runs every other month. And now it is free to join. It’s online. And I’ll host live calls (you just click on the link to access the call). If you can’t make the calls live, they’ll be recorded.

Book club members will buy their book directly giving them more freedom and flexibility to choose from hard copy or audio version or even borrow from the library.

How to make difficult decisions when you feel conflicted

Making that decision and taking action gave me the energy to get things done, make an announcement and feel the freedom now that the decision and conflict are no longer hanging over me.

So if you have a difficult decision to make and you feel conflicted, try out the Cartesian questions.

Answer instinctively and you will come to the right decisions for you.

p.s. if you like the sound of my online book club that specialises in books to help you grow your confidence and your career, join the Facebook group HERE.

Article by Sherry Bevan / book club, Books and publishing, Decision making Leave a Comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Subscribe to Blog

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email.

Looking for something?

Categories

Archives

Recent posts

  • Top 5 most popular articles for women in technology in 2020
  • 12 of the most revealing self-reflection questions
  • 6 powerful reasons to join a leadership programme
  • How to prepare for a job interview on video
  • How to write a cover letter that makes you stand out

Copyright © 2021 · The Confident Mother · Website design by Helen Taranowski Design