“Years ago I made the wrong professional decision. I know that now.”

“I’m worried that I’ll be at a career crossroads and I’ll choose the wrong job.”

“I shouldn’t have quit when I did.”

“I should have taken the other job.”

“What if this isn’t the right career decision?”

Do any of these sentiments sound familiar to you?

As a coach, I hear sentiments of regret from my clients (or fear of future regret) multiple times a day. Here’s the thing about “wrong” or “right” career decisions: they’re not real.

Every decision we make (even if it wasn’t pleasant) opens us up to new insights, learning and opportunity.

The toxic binary

When we frame decisions as “right” or “wrong” we’re discounting that we can learn from every decision we make. Decisions are much more like tree branches than two-pronged forks, as Tim Urban so brilliantly illustrates.

If you could go back in time knowing what you know now, maybe you would have made a different decision. But here’s the truth: you made the best decision you could at the time with the information that was at your disposal. Forgive yourself and have compassion for that past version of yourself.

It’s almost never helpful to think of decisions as right or wrong, but simply to ask yourself, “what did I learn from this that can help me going forward?”

It’s normal to want a do-over. But you can use that feeling about past decisions to inform future decisions.

The next time you have a career decision to make, ask yourself these questions:

• What are the pros and cons of this decision?
• What have I learned from my past experiences?
• What is my gut telling me?
• What do the people I love and trust think?

And then, make a decision. Trust that you’re making the best decision you can at this moment with the data at your disposal. And, also trust that you can always change course if you need to: nothing is permanent. Remember: there is no right or wrong, just actions we can learn from.

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If you are interested in coaching, please check out my coaching page to learn more.