So last week we talked about the art of listening. It was good stuff, check it out if you haven’t here: The Art of Listening. This week we are diving back into the Life Experience category, again with something from my own experience. I almost called this post, “The art of saying ‘Yes’ more” but I thought it might be cheesy, and so here we are with this intro instead.
What do I mean when I talk about saying “Yes” more? Should you always say yes? Why is saying yes more a good thing? Let’s dive more into this topic.
What?
So what are we talking about? Saying “yes” more is about opening up opportunities. It is so easy to say “no” to new people, experiences or knowledge. Typically the reason I would be tempted to say no is because it is uncomfortable, perceived to be difficult or out of just plain laziness. Sometimes you might say no too, but open yourselves up to the possibility of yes.
When?
Well there is a time and a place for everything. For instance, don’t be like Jim Carrey in Yes Man because it should be obvious that some decisions are bad decisions. Cheating on your spouse, drugs, hardcore gambling, etc. are all things that I recommend avoiding. So don’t always say yes, at least without running it through an internal filter. Filters are a good thing, and a nice future topic.
Why?
As I mentioned before, saying “yes” more will net you more new experiences. It really comes down to getting you out of your comfort zone and really opening up your world. It also doesn’t have be be big changes, in fact I recommend smaller incremental things. For example, do you have a friend who has invited you to play a game or go to an event you’ve never done before? Why not say yes? You may have fun, discover new things you like, or just build your friendship with that person.
This post isn’t about changing the world. I don’t want you to go out and sky dive or bungie jump if you are afraid of heights. This is about taking small opportunities as they come. Say yes more, try new things and grow yourself as person.
Nice post, thanks for the info! Suggestion for future topic to contradict this slightly: The Art of saying No
“No” opens up our time to do things we truly enjoy and not over-commit, of course with most things it’s a balance 🙂
Great idea, I’ll add it to the list of future topics. Being able to say “no” at appropriate times is important for reasons to be discussed in that future post.