What Are You Saying No To?

When you are doing one thing, you are not doing the countless other things you might be doing. When you say “yes” to one thing, you are saying “no” to everything else. Therefore, a “yes” to small things is a “no” to bigger, more important things.

When you say “yes” to procrastination, you are saying “no” to the results that are only produced when you spend time doing the work to produce them. If you procrastinate, you also move back the date by which you will produce those results. You are very literally pushing those results farther into the future, farther away from you.

When you say “yes” to living in your email inbox, passively waiting, reacting to all of the requests that come your way, you are saying “no” to your real work (unless you are being paid for answering email, which you are most certainly not). Your real work is producing some outcome, an outcome that isn’t going to happen because your effort has gone elsewhere, mostly to smaller, much less important things.

“Yes” to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat, and YouTube is a “no” to calling your clients, following up with prospects, or creating the proposal someone is right now waiting for you to deliver.

“Yes” to an open Browser is a “no” to reading something that will improve your business acumen and allow you to better serve your company and your clients, a “no” to doing something that would provide you with personal growth, a “no” to investing time in your most important relationships, and a “no” the countless other things on the list of things you wish you had time for.

You have plenty of time to do all of the things that you want to do, but recognizing that time requires you to say “no” to small things so you can say “yes” to bigger things. You have to say “no” to comfort and entertainment and “yes” to doing the things that are meaningful and important.

When you say “yes” to small things, you are saying “no” to yourself and your future. Start saying “no.”