...than failure ever will. It sounds like a cool saying, but it takes experiencing these words in life to understand the meaning.

Most of us are raised with a clear sense that you should avoid failure as much as possible. So most of us are used to some level of doubt. Some doubt can help you to pause, take some time to gain clarity and come up with the best decision to make. But some of us are doubting at such an extent, that it affects your dreams, your goals in life. For example, a dream to be an entrepreneur, write a book or create something completely new that doesn't exist yet. When doubt kicks in, you procrastinate at best and you let go of your dreams at worst. Doubting what you can do, doubting what you can be, does not only affect your goals but also the level of living a fulfilling life. One of the most popular regrets people have when their time in life is almost up is - besides "I should have spent more time with loved ones" - "I should have pursued my dreams".

Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that we are going to die at some point, in order to be brave and risk failure in pursuit of our dreams, rather than letting doubt hold us back. My experience with death was when I was only 10 years old, when a dear one passed away, my mother's only brother. He was a late-comer and was only 6 years older than I was. My brother and I grew up with him, he was our big brother. He died at the age of 16, and it was my most profound confrontation with the limited experience called life. Right then and there I understood very clearly that life can be over before you realise it and I'd better create and live my dreams.

Looking back on my life so far, I have always been good at - what most would say - following my heart. I'd say following my intuition, my sixth sense. Choosing to serve at the Royal Dutch Navy as a military officer after graduating in Business Administration from one of the best universities in the Netherlands, no doubt, I wanted this and I did it. Big decisions such as buying a car, a house, even with whom I'd share my life with, and even cancelling a wedding - yes, life experiences enough and more to come - do not seem to bring me into a doubting mode, no matter how tough the decision seemed to be. I guess that's why it's one of my newest workshops: decisiveness.

Failure as a consequence from my decisiveness has never bothered me, because the freedom of my own choosing, makes any failure bearable and digestible. At least I had my dreams in mind when I decided, no matter the outcome. But there has always been something more happening, why I felt I could rely on my own decision making. At that time, following my heart, I did sense this wise inner voice, but for many years I have been very unconscious of my intuition. It seemed so natural, I took it for granted, and was not noticing how I was receiving and following up on my intuitive insights. Some years later and being more conscious on my personal growth journey, I became more and more aware of my intuition. It's my inner compass and rocket - it guides me, shows me clear direction and gives me inspiration to move forward with action. I have learned how to train the intuition muscle, how to pump up the volume, make it louder than my thoughts and even making my mind a servant and my best friend in the journey called life. Now I love to refer to all this as my Self Dialogue.

When you are not aware (enough) of your Self Dialogue. When your intuition is not strong (enough) to rely on it. When you are doubting the answers you receive intuitively. When you are not decisive (enough), the unclarity grows and doubting brings you in a downward spiral, leading to issues such as procrastination, people-pleasing or choice paralysis.

Take procrastination, if you really understand what it is you know it has nothing to do with laziness, but it is actually a fear. A fear that emerges from unclarity. People-pleasingmeans not knowing your influencers - most people really don't matter, but you need clarity to understand this. Choice paralysis is about not having clarity around your priorities. When you are clear, you experience inspired action and delay is not an option for you anymore. When you are clear, you don't need anyone's view, opinion or permission. When you are clear, no matter how many choices and possibilities are in front of you, you see clearly the best one to select and find peace in any outcome.

So the real key to decisiveness, being at peace with any decision you make and knowing everything will always work out for you - and you even manage to create and live your dreams - has to do with a strong intuition, supported by self awareness and self confidence. These ingredients bring clarity into your life, doubting dissipates and makes room for inspired action to create your dreams.

- W.