Last week we talked about why we need to say yes more often. This week, let’s talk about why we should say no.
I read a fantastic article about the need for saying no to create more joy in our lives. No has a negative connotation, but the part I hadn’t considered before was that every no is also a yes.
Wait, what? Saying no to going out is saying yes to giving yourself some time to relax at home. Mind fully blown.
I’m not now, nor have I ever been, a learner for learning’s sake. I need to convert my knowledge to action. It’s not enough to know for me. I need to test things out and see how they function in this crazy little place we call reality.
Here’s an example. Since the invention of email, my inbox has always been more full than I would like. I continue to refine systems and approaches around it (although some days it seems like the Gremlins that multiply when you feed them after midnight!), but no matter what productivity approach I’ve tried, I always have more. I’ve never gotten to inbox zero for more than a split second. Time to apply this new knowledge around saying no!
What could I say no to in my inbox? I immediately found three email newsletters and hit unsubscribe. Obviously, you wouldn’t want to do that with a concise and fun newsletter like mine, but there were several newsletters that took a lot of time to read that were no longer delivering the same value I once got out of them. So I said no. Which is actually saying yes to other things that are more important to me, like time to write my first book (I know! Exciting, right?).
It’s such a simple concept to say no and one that can be transformational, as I am finding out as I experiment with it more.
#PositiveAction What is something you need to say no to so that you can say yes to something else? Start creating that space for yourself today!
Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay