The Next Right Thing Guided Journal: A Decision-Making Companion

By Emily P. Freeman

When we have a decision to make, what we want more than anything is peace, clarity, and a nudge in the right direction. If you have trouble making decisions because of either chronic hesitation or decision fatigue, Emily P. Freeman offers a fresh way of practicing familiar but often forgotten advice: do the next right thing. 

Emily explained this simple, soulful practice in her bestselling book The Next Right Thing. Now she offers you a resource designed to help you personalize her sound advice. The Next Right Thing Guided Journal includes both seasonal and monthly pages of insightful questions, personal lists, guided decision-making techniques, and plenty of room to write so you can

- clear the decision-making chaos
- quiet your fear of choosing wrong
- find the courage to finally decide without regret or second-guessing

Whether you’re in the midst of a major life transition or are weary of the low-grade anxiety that daily life can bring, this guided journal helps create space for your soul to breathe so you can live life with God at a gentle pace and discern your next right thing in love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
• Release date: Jan 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781493430093

Emily P. Freeman

Emily P. Freeman is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of five books, including The Next Right Thing: A Simple, Soulful Practice for Making Life Decisions. As a spiritual director, workshop leader, and host of The Next Right Thing podcast, her most important work is to help create soul space and offer spiritual companionship and discernment for anyone struggling with decision fatigue. Emily holds a master’s degree in spiritual formation and leadership from Friends University. She lives in North Carolina with her family.

Book preview

© 2021 by Emily P. Freeman

Published by Revell

a division of Baker Publishing Group

PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.revellbooks.com

Ebook edition created 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

978-1-4934-3009-3

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Some content in this book has been adapted from Emily P. Freeman, The Next Right Thing (Grand Rapids: Revell, 2019).

The author is represented by Alive Literary Agency, 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920, www.aliveliterary.com.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Introduction

Why Use This Journal

How To Use This Journal

The Journal

What I Learned This Year

Resources

Ten Questions To Help You Make a Decision

Recommended Reading

About the Author

Back Cover

Introduction

JUST DO THE NEXT RIGHT THING

No matter how old you are or what stage of life you’re in, you will always have decisions to make. Some of those decisions will have noticeably life-changing consequences or life-shaping outcomes, but many of them will seem tiny and rote. The daily choices you make aren’t always monumental, but they are always there. In fact, it’s estimated that adults make over thirty-five thousand decisions every single day. One by one, those decisions are quietly, steadily making your life.

As each day rolls into the next, you’re led through one life transition after another—potentially one fog after another—always looking for the clearings, always watching for hope, always listening for clues that you’re headed in the right direction. Even the most grounded and professional among us can suffer from decision fatigue given the right set of circumstances.

When I’m in a season of transition, waiting, or general fogginess, the best and most approachable advice I’ve ever received is to simply do the next right thing. Authors Anne Lamott and Brennan Manning both have their own version of this advice, as do Martin Luther King Jr., Theodore Roosevelt, and Mother Teresa. For decades it’s become a common catchphrase spoken by coaches in locker rooms and leaders in boardrooms, and it is a lifeline for those in the recovery community. And while he didn’t say this exact phrase (that we know of, anyway), Jesus’s entire life was marked by living day by day, listening to and caring for those in his path, and simply

Reviews for The Next Right Thing Guided Journal

[Cris Sheila · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A Gentle teacher , fresh perspective for the soul. We need more books like this.