In 2018 I stood in front of 250 fellow builders and remodelers and challenged them all to say NO. Why, because after years of finding myself overwhelmed and overworked I wanted to share my new found freedom - my ability to say no.
The challenge is, saying no is hard. There is FEAR. We are afraid to say no. Let’s face it, saying yes is way easier. We have a natural desire to help, we always feel like we can fix things, we have the answers, WE CAN DO IT. We want to avoid confrontation. For some reason we feel guilty if we don’t say yes.
The problem is when we say yes too often we set ourselves up for disappointment. We fall into this trap easily by saying things like; Yes, I’ll do that. Sure, I’d be glad to. Why not, sounds like a good idea. No problem, I got this. Sure, I can make time for that...
NO, YOU CAN’T MAKE TIME!.....and by saying these things we over commit, which makes us run out of time, and then we feel stressed out, which makes us lose our focus, so we get frustrated. This becomes a vicious cycle we fall into. There can be real consequences to saying yes so make sure what you are committing to is worth your time and effort.
Change Your Mindset & Learn To Say No
“Every time we say NO to something that is not important, we are saying YES to something that is.” Michael Hyatt
I challenge you to answer the following 4 questions:
- What’s the worst thing you said yes to in the past year?
- What problems did that cause?
- What would be different if you had said no?
- What will you say no to this year?
Take some time out of your busy day and answer these questions. I am sure you will start feeling better about saying no.
