As a career coach, I’ve learned that the driver for every reason is one of two things: (1) Purpose: moving towards something you want. (2) Fear: preventing or avoiding something you don’t want. Here’s how to figure out what’s driving you…

We hear from clients all the time who are teetering on the edge of a choice, wanting to take the “right” path (whatever that means!) and worried about potential regrets down the road. Today, we’re hearing from Penney Leadership Coach Jessica Crowley on what it means to make a career decision with confidence.

When I found myself at a career crossroads two years ago, I polled about 85 people for their opinions on what I should do. I had been climbing the ladder in my organization for seven years—through five job titles—and had reached the point where something needed to shift. The problem was, I wasn’t sure what to shift: Do I scale back my hours? Advocate to reshape my role? Find another role in a larger nonprofit? Finally launch my own business?

I asked friend after mentor after trusted colleague for their guidance. Since I was feeling so wobbly about the decision within myself, I was stuck in a spin of wanting someone to tell me exactly what to do. But after the 85th conversation, I realized: no one could make this decision except for me. And I had no idea of how to do that.

Decision-making is central to the modern career landscape. That means that we’re in the driver’s seat; we are the decider of where we’re going. That gives us a lot of freedom to explore, follow our interests and talents, and grow in exciting ways. But it’s also a huge responsibility to be in control of our own paths. It means that we’re making more decisions than ever before—and we need to get better at making those choices. Here’s how.