October is Mental Health Awareness Month, and the Lane Cove Library has invited Lane Cove local Joey Corea, author of From Dilemmas to Decisions: 3 Simple Steps to Less Anxiety and Fewer Regrets, to discuss his book (click here to book).
We asked Joey to tell us about his book and why he wrote it.
What is Your Book About?
It’s a nonfiction book about managing overwhelm, regret, and decision fatigue. I demonstrate how my simple three-step process has helped me reduce anxiety and regret by using diverse examples from my life in fields like career, medical and investing.
How Do You Hope to Inspire Your Readers?
My goal is for readers to adopt a more effective approach to decision-making.
I went from someone who used to feel a lot of anxiety leading up to decisions and then regret shortly after. I now see decisions as an opportunity for growth and self-awareness. I want my readers to experience a similar transformation.
Why Write About Decision-Making Anxiety?
I tend to be more anxious than most people. This anxiety intensified when I had to make a decision.
I would often feel apprehension and procrastinate before making the decision, and then feel regret after making it.
When I first learned about more intentional processes around making decisions, I was in the middle of deciding whether to stay in a comfortable job where I was highly respected or to start from scratch in the booming field of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Since then, I have been approaching my decisions more intentionally, and I have become a much calmer and peaceful person.
What used to be a tangled mess between my ears is now an organised collection of clear lines of thought. It feels like I have much less anxiety and fewer regrets in the decisions I make.
Even though I have a Degree in Psychology, nothing I learned there comes close to the effectiveness of these techniques I have refined over the past six years.
And it’s all simple enough to learn the three steps in a single weekend.
How Long Did It Take You To Write the Book?
The short answer: about three months. The long answer: five years.
I’m an unusual writer in that I hardly ever write from a blank page. I am an obsessive note taker and note maker, and I follow the second brain approach (A “Second Brain” is a digital extension of your mind) to personal knowledge management. So, when it comes to writing a book, it’s a matter of simply joining the dots.
It was still a challenge to write. However, I think having all the pieces in front of me really cut down the writing time compared to other writing projects that start from a blank page.
The most challenging part was getting it down to its compact size. I wanted it to be a book you could read on the weekend to deal with a decision that has been causing you anxiety.
When Monday rolls around, the tools in the book will help you commit to a clear decision.
Is this Your First Book?
It’s my first non-fiction.
I have published some fiction in the early 2010s, but that’s a bit of a complicated story that I won’t bore you with!
How Hard Was it to Get the Book Published?
On Amazon / Kindle, it was a bit of a pain. Part of that was my fault, though, as I hadn’t formatted my manuscript appropriately from the beginning. Lesson learned!
On Gumroad, the process was quite smooth. It involved simply converting the manuscript to PDF and then uploading it, just as you would to Google Drive or Dropbox.
Will There Be Another Book?
Yes! I’m just getting started!
After the promotions for the audiobook wind-up, I’ll start researching the next one. It’s likely to be about how to best leverage the capabilities of our smartphones, rather than being distracted by them.
If you want to know more, please sign up for my newsletter.
How Long Have You Lived in Lane Cove?
It will be 16 years in December 2024!
What’s Your Favourite Lane Cove Coffee Place?
I’m not a big coffee shop person. However, one of my favourite places to eat is Greenhouse Asian Salads. Get the Tofu Poke Bowl! That’s a decision you won’t need my book for!
What’s Your Favourite Thing to Do in Lane Cove?
Walking on the nature trails.
We are fortunate to have beautiful, well-maintained trails.
It’s a fantastic experience to walk down a busy road and then enter the trail, and within five minutes, forget that you are in suburbia because it is so quiet and lush. (ITC note: check out the section on our website for bushwalks here)
Lane Cove Library Author Talk
Join Joey on 13 October 2025 from 6.15 pm to 8.00 pm to hear all about his book.
To register to attend click here.
Joey Corea Contact Details
Website: https://thepluckyjester.com/from-dilemmas-to-decisions/
Amazon: Buy E-book here
Goodreads: Buy E-book here
Gumroads: Buy E-Book here
Audio Book: Buy Audio Book here
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