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The Decision Rule: Stop Overthinking. Start Making Decisions

Sat, 20 Dec 2025 00:58:04 GMT

Does this scenario sound familiar? You're staring at your laptop, toggling between options, thinking through scenarios for the hundredth time. Should you commit to the school with the big scholarship or the one with your dream program? Pick a major now or go in undecided? Join every club that sounds interesting or focus on a few?

The problem isn't that you don't have enough information. It's that you're waiting for perfect that doesn't exist. I tell my clients preparing for college that most decisions aren’t about finding the "perfect" choice. It’s about making a good choice then making it work.

Here’s a simple exercise you can try. I call this the Decision Exercise:

Set a timer for 10 minutes. No more research. No more pros-and-cons lists. Just you and your gut.
Ask yourself, which options excites me more, even if it scares me? Fear and excitement often feel the same. The question is which one leads somewhere you want to go.
Imagine it's a year from now. Which choice would you be proud you made? What does you feely successful feel like?
When the timer goes off, decide. Not perfectly. Not forever. For now.

Most successful people aren't successful because they made perfect decisions. They're successful because they made decisions, learned from them, and adjusted course if needed. That major you're agonizing over. You can change it. That opportunity you're afraid to take. There will be others if it doesn't work out. That path you're not sure about. You can always change direction. The only wrong decision is getting in your own way.

Your move. Pick one decision you've been avoiding. Set that timer. Give yourself a few minutes to choose, then take the smallest action toward that choice today. Send one email. Make one call. Fill out one form. Movement creates clarity. What are you waiting for?

If you need help getting ideas flowing, or want someone to guide you, reach out anytime to schedule a complimentary consultation. You can also check out a podcast episode I was a guest on where I talk about a variety of ways I help students prep for college.

Not the Plan, But Definitely the Purpose

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 16:27:36 GMT

Let’s just say...this wasn’t the plan. I didn’t grow up dreaming of becoming a life and career coach. Heck, I didn’t even know that was a thing. If you told teenage me growing up in Half Moon Bay (surrounded by generations of family dating back to the 1800s) that one day I’d be helping people find purpose, I would’ve looked at you like you had three heads.

Life has a funny way of pulling you exactly where you’re meant to be. My path? Less straight line more zigzag. Still, every turn had purpose.

It started with a little curiosity and a lot of support. Like many good stories, mine started with strong women. My grandmother and mom led their lives with full purpose. They drilled into me from an early age that education was everything. Read. Study. Get good grades. Excellence wasn’t optional, it was expected. And honestly, I’m grateful. That foundation gave me the work ethic to chase (and survive) every twist and turn that came next in my life.

I wanted cosmetology. They wanted accounting. I had dreams of becoming a cosmetologist. I could already see myself helping people look their best – a palette of makeup colors in one hand, lip gloss in the other. My parents? Not so much.

“Absolutely not,” they said. “You should look into accounting. That’s a sound career”. I was great at math and to them it made sense. So, I went to Chico State with a major in accounting and a minor in not sure how this is going to play out?

Then life did what life does. I got into a car accident my second year and had to come home to recover. With a lot of time on my hands and creativity in my heart, I took a slight detour and became a certified makeup artist. Enter my Nordstrom era working cosmetic lines and living my best eyeliner life.

My rainbow chapter. Next came a colorful stretch of career moves, each one adding to a new hue to who I am.

Weight loss counselor (don’t ask, I’m still not sure)

Receptionist
Accountant
Controller
Jewelry maker
Home renovator (yes, I own a tile saw and know how to use it)

Every job added a skill and a spark. And through them all the commonality was creativity and helping people. I was painting and selling art, taking on big renovations for my home, and geeking out over color palettes and grout lines. It was messy and magical. Until 2008 rolled in with a recession.

After that, I leaned into accounting. It paid the bills, and I enjoyed it. Then one day, I walked into Robert Half looking for a recruiter job and walked out with one on their accounting team. Turns out, I was really good at it. I hit a million-dollar milestone in under a year! But eventually, the feeling of wanting more returned.

The coach who lit the spark. In 2021, recovering from a back injury I did something totally unexpected, I hired a life coach. Cue lightbulb and full-body a-ha moment. I realized that no matter the job - recruiting, designing, painting, makeup was always helping people figure things out and it filled me with purpose. That was the common thread. That was the magic. That… was me.

So, I became a certified coach. Started my own business and people came. First, they wanted help with career direction. Then came resume rewrites, LinkedIn enhancements, and interview coaching. Before I knew it, I was guiding high school and college students through major choices and helping them avoid wasting loads of money on the wrong degree.

Average is not for me. If you’ve made it this far, you’ve figured it out, I’m not your average coach. I’m a pink-loving, power-tool-wielding, spreadsheet-building, makeup blend of strategy and heart. My path was perfectly mine. And now, I help others find their path whether they’re feeling stuck or just tired of chasing someone else’s version of quote, un-quote - success.

It’s never too late to be what you want to be. Whether you’re 18 or 68 you CAN reinvent yourself. If you’re standing at a crossroads wondering which way to go, let’s talk. One conversation could be the start of your own zigzag-to-purpose story.

The Road to College Index: How I Created a Strategic Guide to Help Families Navigate the College Journey with Confidence

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 16:27:36 GMT

When I set out to become a certified career service provider, I had no idea my final assignment would evolve into something that would transform how I work with families going through the college application process

It started out with a detailed timeline and checklist running through the end of the year. I added my logo, made it digital with checkable boxes, and submitted it as one of my finals. Then I wrote an article, Leveraging Technology for College Prep and Career Success: 5 Tech Tips which was selected and published.

But once I started doing college advising, I realized students needed so much more than just a timeline starting in September when they go back to school. They needed a comprehensive guide. So, I kept building, adding more content, finding more resources, creating tools. What emerged is now a full guide that tackles everything from career assessments to essay writing, LinkedIn profiles to budgeting. Literally everything a student and their family needs.

More Than a Checklist

The Road to College Index isn't your typical college prep guide. I spent a significant amount of time researching and finding links to practical resources that students can actually use. Take SAT prep, for example. The Index includes links to California prep testing sites where students can study, not just read about studying. It's a complete guide to get you through the entire year, and it's designed for both students and parents to follow along together. Parents can be as hands-on or hands-off as they want, but if they want to see what their student is doing besides the work we do together, they can follow along with the checklists.

The Essay Writing Challenge

One of the sections students focus on most is essay writing. With application essays ranging from 350-word UC Personal Interest Questions (UCPIQs) to 650-word Common App essays, students face intensely personal prompts about failures, challenges, and defining moments.

My approach is strategically old-school in our AI-saturated world, and for good reason. “Can I use ChatGPT?“ is one of the first questions I get asked. The answer is no. It will get flagged. Essays ask personal questions such as How has something affected you? What failures have you encountered and how did you overcome them? The colleges want to hear the student's authentic experiences.

My process works like this: students brainstorm first, then start answering questions and building something in-depth. I take their essay and fix grammar, check that everything flows properly, and give them advice on corrections. It's a process in itself. I may run it through an AI checker as a double-check to see if everything flows and if they're missing anything from the question that I might not have picked up, but the writing must be authentically theirs. It teaches them real-life skills about how to think and write in their own voice.

Building Professional Foundations Early

Another section in the Index is how to create LinkedIn profiles, resumes, and portfolios (depending on which colleges they're applying to. Ivy League schools often want a portfolio, which is almost like a business plan with a heavy-duty resume). For LinkedIn, I have details on how to build a profile for someone in their age group. I've seen some incredible testimonials from families about how this guidance gave their students a boost in opportunities.

The Index also includes practical life skills often overlooked in college prep such as budgeting tools and apps, letters of recommendation strategies, resources for grants and scholarships, parent resources, career exploration tools and internship research.

Starting Early, Staying Flexible

While the Index is essential for high school seniors, I encourage students to start earlier. I work with 11th graders on pre-prep work, and I even work with 9th graders who are trying to choose career pathways. Some students are stressed about the future and not sure what career to get into. I wouldn't know either at that age honestly. The Index helps them build career pathways early.

If someone's going for a science-heavy profession, they need to take chemistry. If they don't like chemistry, they might want to choose a new career. It's better to figure that out in 9th grade than after you've already committed to a major. And if students change their minds later? That's perfectly fine. The path can always shift. They'll take undergraduate courses with electives to explore, and I help research internships in their area so they can get real-world exposure and truly understand if it's the right fit.

The Journey Simplified

The Road to College Index helps students jump to any part they need. For some, it might feel overly detailed, but I'd rather give families more information than not enough. Every client receives the Road to College Index automatically, and I customize it based on their grade level. For 11th graders, I pare it down to what's relevant for them. Then I walk through it with them from the very beginning. Some of my students already know what they want to do career-wise, so they might skip the assessment sections. Others need help exploring options. Either way, the manual adapts to their journey.

Journey Value

If I had to summarize the value of the Road to College Index, I'd say it's about the journey itself. Simplify for students and families how to go through the college prep process with confidence. I want to give students the tools they need not just to get into college, but to succeed once they're there and beyond. This is about building foundations for their future that will serve them for life.

If you're interested in learning more or working together, I welcome you to schedule a complimentary consultation . You can also hear me talk about The Road to College Index in this podcast episode I was a guest on.