Real confidence comes from mastery experiences, which are actual, lived moments of success, especially when things seem difficult. - Meg Jay

All the thinking I did was really debilitating and unproductive. The one thing I have learned is that you can’t think your way through life. The only way to figure out what to do is to do — something.

The frontal lobe is where we move beyond the futile search for black-and-white solutions as we learn to tolerate — and act on — shades of gray.

At the time, I thought this man was not a particularly good backcountry ranger. Now I have to laugh. He was telling me what I say to my twentysomething clients every day, what this book has been all about. The future isn’t written in the stars. There are no guarantees. So claim your adulthood. Be intentional. Get to work. Pick your family. Do the math. Make your own certainty. Don’t be defined by what you didn’t know or didn’t do. You are deciding your life right now.