Book excerpt: Whatever it is that you need to be happy and successful--from a perfect spouse to a satisfying job, the home of your dreams, or complete self-confidence--here's an astonishingly easy and effective way to achieve your goals. Decision Power is the first guide to show you how to balance thought and feeling--the mind and the heart--to make sound decisions that also satisfy your most deep-seated desires. Its tested approaches and practical tools enable you to: evaluate every decision so that you clearly define the problem and address the real issues; develop feasible alternatives that all reflect your goals and values; make tradeoffs you can live with when you have to choose between two or more goals pulling you in different directions; overcome doubts, setbacks, or obstacles that at first appear overwhelming; trust yourself to make the right choice and gain support from family and friends for your decisions. You'll find 12 proven decision-making methods in all, that work in concert to help you access your feelings ... sharpen your problem-solving skills ... and increase your resourcefulness, inner strength, and confidence. Presented in the form of a checklist, this unique tool allows you to "test" a decision before it's implemented ... refine or revise it if you're not totally satisfied, or if new information or events change the picture. By following the step-by-step approach laid out in Decision Power, you'll never again follow a course of action that seems well-thought-out but fails to meet your underlying needs.