"I'm kerfuffled."

That's the first thing a client shared at the top of a recent coaching call. As I probed more I learned she was unsettled -- unsettled about transitions happening on both the work and home front. My reply? "Me, too."

A client recently asked me to develop a series of 10 minute Ted Talk-like presentations to be shared over a six month period with several hundred leaders from throughout their organization. I love that assignment, and I really love the theme of the series: creating positive mindset shifts to better navigate sustained periods of change and uncertainty.

Earlier this month I facilitated a Breakthrough Offsite for 24 leaders in an organization undergoing profound change. In addition to change, the other key theme was new: new people in new roles in new team configurations.

All of that new presented an interesting challenge: how to help these leaders have meaningful interactions with their colleagues -- the kind of interactions that lead to "I'd love to grab more time and keep this conversation going."

It's easy for me to fall into the trance of doing. I now believe one of my earliest over indulgences was to the feedback that came from non-stop GSD. And that started long before my career began! It would be many decades before I learned that sometimes we have to practice "under-doing and under-achieving" to remind us of "the simple grace and humility of being human."  (Big thanks to Richard Rohr for that reminder.) I'm learning meaningful moments often happen when I've created space to simply be. That's why my intention for the year is to create space.

What was your most recent first-time experience? There's something incredibly magical about the first-time visit to a new place, the first-time watching an artist you love perform live, or the first-time navigating a new professional situation. Each first-time experience can inspire us, and that in turn can help us inspire others.

There's a good chance you're in the process of making a decision, which is why I'm sharing the five questions I just ran through with my client. Before you review these questions, I'd like you to think about a decision you're making (or will be making). Take three minutes and jot down the questions you'll review to optimize the outcome of that decision. Use this list to supplement yours and get to a better decision, faster.