Saying ‘no’ is difficult for most of us. We find ourselves doing things we don’t want to do. Seeing people we don’t want to see. Or being a part of meetings we don’t need to be. Or we got lost in our emails or surfing the web.

For some of us, this is partly a result of being people pleasers. But for many, including the people pleasers, it’s highly impacted by the fact we haven’t clarified what we are saying ‘yes’ to.

Saying ‘yes’ can be scary because it results in ‘no’s’ to other things. And many of us don’t want to say ‘no’. Saying ‘yes’ means we have are on the hook for something. Saying ‘yes’ means we are clear on our ‘big rocks.’ If we are clear we are writing a book or report or paper. If that is our clear yes, it is easier to say ‘no’ to meetings, events, and so on that occur during the time dedicated to our ‘yes’.

Our inability to say ‘no’ can be a form of the resistance. It lets others set our agenda for us. And I get that this can feel easier, can feel less scary, and even be necessary at some points in our lives. However, figuring out your ‘yes’ for the day, week, month, year might just be the most important task for you.

What are you going to say ‘yes’ to today?

Photo by Julian Lozano