The guidance you give should leave the final decision recognizable as theirs.

Counsel can be so complete that nothing is left for the other person to decide. They follow it, it works or it does not, and either way they have learned little about how to choose next time and feel oddly absent from their own life. Help that leaves no room is a slow way of taking something from someone while appearing to give.

When you counsel a person this week, offer what you know and then hand the choice back on purpose. Asking which part fits their situation lets them keep authorship of whatever happens next.