The Practice
Stories and insights for living with intention — one decision at a time.
5 Great Decisions for the Big Decisions
5 Great Decisions works for the everyday choices — but it also works for the ones that keep you up at night. Here's what I've learned about big decisions, small steps, and the courage that grows between them...
Read more →Your Future Self is Keeping Count
Whether you track it or not, your future self is already keeping count of every choice you make today. This post explores what a nutrition app taught me about awareness, agency, and the quiet power of 5 Great Decisions.
The Problem with Prescriptions
Most of us have been conditioned to reach for prescriptions, formulas, and five-step plans. Here's why that approach falls short — and what a practice built on discovery, vision, and agency looks like instead.
Too Good to Keep to Myself
After a year of exploring the depth of 5 Great Decisions, I realized I couldn't just move on. When something has this kind of impact, sharing it isn't a choice — it's simply what you do for the people you care about.
A One-Year Project: One Day at a Time
In 2021, I tried to commit to a year of making 5 Great Decisions daily. It lasted less than two weeks. Today, I have my one-year story — and the only commitment that made it possible was today.
5GD: Clarity and Direction
This blog post explores what clarity and direction look like inside the 5 Great Decisions practice — and how they surface naturally when your intention is clear.
I Didn't Plan to Write this Book
I didn't go into this year planning to write a book. I went in curious — and what I found changed everything I thought I knew about 5 Great Decisions.
A New Chapter
If you believe every chapter of life deserves intention, you're in the right place. This is where I share what I'm learning as the founder of 5 Great Decisions® — and where I continue doing the work that has always driven me: helping people get specific about the future they want, and giving them a framework to move toward it.
All Things You
In my last post, I shared how my three books work together — each one meeting people at a different place in their journey. That was All Things Patrice. Now I want to turn the camera around.
All Things Patrice
As 5 Great Decisions gets ready for publication this May, I've been working with a marketing specialist, Andrea, to help spread the word. When she first looked at my website, she said, "It's all things Patrice." I've been sitting with what that actually means.
5 Great Decisions: A Way to Do Hard Things
I'm more than halfway through my sabbatical year of exploring 5 Great Decisions. As I've been preparing vision and mission statements for the next five years, one statement surfaced that captures what 5GD actually does: it's a way to do hard things.
New Year's Resolutions vs 5 Great Decisions: A Different Approach
January 1st rolls around, and we make our declarations: "This is the year I'll finally…" We've all been there. Here's what I've learned: the problem isn't our willpower. The problem is that resolutions ask us to sustain motivation for an entire year.
On the Right Side of the Counter
The past several weeks I've been spending a lot of time in my favorite coffee shops while I work on my next book. This past week, I found myself wondering what it would be like to work part-time as a barista. The idea was prompted by a recent conversation with a 75-year-old man who'd just retired.
From Freedom to Intention: Creating Your Retirement Days
Last month, we talked about the paradox of retirement freedom: you finally have time to design your days, but endless free time doesn't automatically become meaningful time. Without intention, days can slip into autopilot — same routine, same chair, same shows.
Freedom + Direction = Opportunity
Each month, I'll be sharing updates about 5 Great Decisions and how this practice connects to the opportunities and challenges we navigate in retirement. Why does 5GD matter for retirement? Because it directly addresses one of retirement's central paradoxes.
Keeping Up With 5 Great Decisions
Last month I introduced you to 5 Great Decisions — my year-long exploration into what happens when we approach decision-making as a practice of intentional living. My mission is to understand why this simple concept has the power to reshape how we show up in the world.
Introducing 5 Great Decisions
Have you ever had an idea that you believed had real value and needed to be shared with others? Not something grand or complicated — sometimes it's the simplest concepts that hold the most power. That happened to me 20 years ago with something I call 5 Great Decisions.
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