A few months ago I was reading a blog where the writer was asking the question if we were ready for success. I've always said that I was mentally ready for success, and I really believe that.

I also believe that sometimes it feels like when it rains, it pours, and it's not necessarily always bad. Most of us do equate the phrase with bad things, and I will admit that sometimes it seems like that's just how things are going. But at other times, you'll find that not only will you have a lot of good things going on, but it may be too many good things at once, and suddenly you're faced with making some tough choices.

I have that happen to me from time to time. I'm on kind of a good streak of luck, and I'm thinking it's about time. However, some of the things coming my way are putting an interesting type of pressure on me. Over the past couple of weeks I've had conversations with people who have asked me for advice asking what happens if one gets so much work that they can't keep up with it. I told both of them that if it happens that's always a good thing, especially for an independent, because it not only doesn't happen as often as one might hope it does, but it gives you an opportunity to make choices, to see what you're really about.

Of course, that's what's happening to me right now. I'm having to make some serious choices as I have four different things that have just come my way, that I need to make decisions on over the next few days. Some of the decisions might end up killing other potential options I have, because there's no way I can do everything at the same time. These won't be easy decisions, but I still think it's better to have the opportunity to make decisions than not being able to make any decisions at all.

Translate this to both employees and peers of yours. Sometimes we try to lead everything, and thus have everything go our way. There are times when that's appropriate, but there are other times when it's appropriate to give someone else the opportunity to make a decision. How you gauge that depends on you and your comfort level, but know that the more you allow other people to make decisions on some things, the more diverse, and thus better, overall production tends to be.

Unfortunately, I don't have that luxury, working for myself, so consider yourself lucky.