How Big Is This Moment?

You’ll face many big decisions, but don’t forget: They may not be as critical as they feel.

- JASON FEIFER

Are you facing a moment, or the moment?

It's a critical distinction we often lose sight of. When we're facing a big decision, grappling with a change, or wondering whether to seize or pass on a new opportunity, we tend to raise the stakes on ourselves. We treat our decision as critical-as make-or-break, do-or-die. It's the last train leaving the station! The game-winning shot in your hands! Everything seems to hang in the balance.

My advice: Take a breath. Calm your emotions. Then ask yourself my simple but profound question-are you facing a moment, or the moment?

I'll give you an example. My friend Jenny Illes Wood is high up at Google, and she has built a popular program there called Own Your Career. She gives workshops on how Googlers can increase their influence, develop new skills, better advocate for themselves, and so on, and tens of thousands of her colleagues subscribe to her email newsletter. She imagined that one day she might write a book inspired by all this-but she has two small kids and a busy job, so she was in no rush to do it.