You need to set your goals and define your limits before the actual negotiation begins.  After you know your goals and limits, you can decide on your opening offer.  Your goals and limits carry you right to the end of the negotiation, enabling you to decide when to close a deal and when to walk away.  The very process of setting limits gives you power in a negotiation, because the process forces you to focus on what else you will do if you fail to reach an agreement.  I call that your or else.

-Michael C. Donaldson, Negotiating for Dummies

While the topics are quite different, this week's tip is actually fundamentally similar to last week's: they're both focused on your ability to think through options before something happens (whether it's a problem or a negotiation).  The better your ability to envision and then work through these situations, the more prepared and ultimately more successful you'll be.

Having trouble envisioning the possibilities yourself?  Consider enlisting a colleague, friend, or family member to play "devil's advocate" for you and prompt you with questions that force you to think, "what else might happen?"