The last few months have been a whirlwind of emotion.

Stephanie and I were faced with a big decision, one that would alter the way we chose to live our life for the last five years.

We truly loved our floating lifestyle.

And yet, after five years of adventure, fun, and occasional sheer terror, we felt that we were being called to take a break and move back to land.

This has been an incredibly difficult decision.

As adults, we all make several decisions on a daily basis, and making decisions is not new to me.

As a business coach, I help entrepreneurs make some big decisions about the direction of their business.

Heck, I even wrote a book called, DECIDE – The Ultimate Success Trigger!

So why are some decisions more difficult than others?

There are decisions of the heart (emotion) and decisions of the mind (reason).

Emotion tends to exist in the present:

“I want to keep boating because damn it, I love it!”

This is clearly a decision of the heart!

Reason-based decisions of the mind are typically future-based:

“I know it makes sense for us to take a break from boating now. We’d love to spend more time with family and friends. And, while our feet are firmly on solid ground, we can begin to plan another big adventure!”

And therein lies the battle, emotion versus reason – heart versus head.

Another part of the decision-making process is timing.

In life and in business, timing is everything.

Remember the popular Chinese proverb,

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.”

When I coach entrepreneurs about the importance of writing a book, starting a podcast, or other forms of marketing that will eventually help their business grow, my advice is usually, “Let’s do it now.”

As we traveled north from our winter home in the keys, since we thought this was our final trip on Our Floating Home, we were considering exploring some new towns and peaceful anchorages.

This was our way of making our last trip extra special.

But then our yacht broker, Todd, said something I will not forget.

“The best time to sell a boat is a sunny Saturday in May.”

When Todd said that to us, while in our hearts we wanted to do what we wanted to do, we once again made a reason-based decision, and made a bee-line for our home port on the Chesapeake.

Yeah, sometimes it is difficult to be an adult and make the hard calls, but a few things helped us make the right decision.

We prayed daily for wisdom and guidance.

We talked about the pros and cons with each other, a lot.

And, we listened to the wise counsel from some good friends, who oddly enough were faced with the exact same decision!

Our friends also loved the boating lifestyle.

I believe we met each other in Marathon and became friends, specifically so we could support each other through the myriad of emotions that are part of this kind of big life-altering decision.

Sometimes, when you make difficult decisions, you get to experience some validation that lets you know you made the right call.

We listed Floating Home on a Thursday, the first showing was Saturday – one week after we arrived home – and we accepted an offer on Sunday!

By the way, our friends also showed their boat to only one couple just days after listing it, and they also accepted an offer one day later.

Incredible.

We know that we made the right decision and we have so many great memories of our last five years aboard Floating Home.

We’re slowly adjusting to our new lifestyle on land, and our hearts are full as we’ve already seen a lot of our wonderful family and friends.

We are truly blessed.

Cap't Jim Palmer, The Dream Business Coach

Cap’t Jim Palmer, best known internationally as the Dream Business Coach, is creator of the Dream Business Mastermind and Coaching Program and host of Dream Business Radio – a weekly podcast based on Jim’s smart marketing and dream business building strategies. Claim your FREE Dream Business Transformation now!

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