From "The Best Advice," Best Life magazine, March 2006

I have a standing offer for an exciting but risky business opportunity.  How can I tell if I'm being cautious or cowardly?

That you're even considering the opportunity shows that you're not a coward.  The real question is, How ready are you to seize it?  Men often judge opportunities solely by the impact they'll have on their careers.  "They forget that their lives are dynamic systems and that changing any part of a system will affect every other part," says Bill Pullen, president of Pullen and Associates, a career consulting firm in Washington, D.C.  "You need to consider how the decision will affect your family, your health, and even your personal well-being."

Before you leap, it's also important that you figure out why you find the opportunity exciting.  If it's because you're dissatisfied with your job, try improving that first.  "Changing just 10 percent of a situation can often make a world of difference," says Diana Pace, Ph.D., author of The Career Fix-It Book.  If nothing will quell your wanderlust, though, use these tips to land on your feet.

Be a man of action  Many of Pullen's clients succumb to what he calls "analysis paralysis," using the "need" for research as an excuse not to act.  "At some point you have to stop navel-gazing," he says.  "This is a risk, after all; you'll never be 100 percent sure it will work out." 

Forget Plan B  "It can undermine your chance of success by sucking up the energy you'd otherwise devote to Plan A," Pullen says. 

Create an advisory board  Pull together a group of five people who can offer objective advice on how you're going about things.  "They should be diverse enough to lend expertise in areas where you lack it," says Pullen.