About this quote

Choices shape how your days add up. You can't test every option, so pick based on what you can live with and then move in that direction. Be honest about what you will give up and set a small test to check if the choice fits. Which small step will show you whether you chose well this week?

When to use it

• When I got both the steady marketing manager offer and a freelance proposal, I thought of that poem and chose freelance to see if I could build my own client base.
• Choosing between medical school and a two-year teaching fellowship, I kept the poem in mind and took the fellowship to learn whether I liked working with students day to day.
• My surgeon offered immediate operation or a conservative rehab plan; I remembered the road-not-taken idea and tried rehab first to avoid surgery if possible.
• When my partner was offered a job abroad and we had to decide whether to move, the poem came up and we picked the option that kept my elderly parent nearby.