What can you say yes to?
Last year was a year I finally gave myself permission to stop doing what I didn’t want to do anymore. Reflecting on the perspective of that choice, the choice to stop doing what I didn’t like or want to do anymore, I thought of the “say yes” challenge. In personal growth programs, people are often invited to say yes to things which is a fairly straightforward idea. However, depending on the context, it always comes down to the context of what you say yes to.
Saying no to something means you don’t want to do it anymore. You are in a way resisting, choosing to avoid, negate or obliterate that thing. When you say no to something, you’re refusing to engage, enroll or agree with. Lots of negativity in that, right?
Last year I didn’t want to chase business anymore. I remember the article I wrote, “I don’t want to work that hard anymore,” and how I finally gave myself permission to stop selling for one year. Goodness, what a relief that was! But I didn’t have the pipeline to sustain me for a year. So what did I do? I found different clients and positioned myself as a fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).
The idea behind being a fractional is you dedicate more of your time in a significant leadership role in a company over a longer period of time for ongoing work. The role, however, is a lower cost burden to the client. You can think of it somewhat as a part-time full-time job at any given company with stable revenue. Whereas I was primarily working with solopreneurs (who I love to work with), I found that their project-focused engagements were short lived and I needed something more sustainable, but I didn’t want to go back into the traditional workforce as a full time employee.
Fortunately, I was able to secure three amazing clients as a fractional CMO. Not only did this create work and revenue for me and my business, but it completely removed the need to market myself. Given that I’m in marketing and hate marketing my own business, that was a good thing.
Getting back to saying yes, many times when we do a “say yes” challenge, it’s for personal growth. To take on something that stretches us, makes us face a fear, be uncomfortable and achieve a goal we’ve always wanted to achieve. Hence, the personal or professional growth. Like saying yes to a new job, or a new home, a new relationship or a new wellness plan.
And then there’s the “say no” challenge where you stop doing things you don’t want to do, like I did last year. What I am proposing here, however, is an alternative to the “say yes” challenge. Instead of saying yes to push yourself into a growth mode, why not say yes to something you want? Something that you’ve perhaps deprived yourself of like time? Solitude? Creativity? Freedom? A trip to the mountains? The things that you’ve perhaps saved for retirement or gave up because you were raising a family or just felt you didn’t deserve for whatever reason?
It’s time to say yes to more of what you want. Things that give you pleasure and that allow yourself to experience more joy in life. Are you someone who could really use a dose of positive selfishness? Of doing something for yourself that you’ve deprived yourself of or talked yourself out of for some ridiculous reason? What have you been missing all these years?
I’m saying yes to more time for me. For more taking time off during the week to paint, to play golf with the chicks, to take long three-day weekends out of town just for fun or allowing myself to just hang out. I’m also saying yes to feeling abundant and healthy and free. All of those things are important to me.
For You
What kind of shift can you experience by saying yes to things you want? Examine the things that you’ve put off or denied yourself over the years that would have given you pleasure, fun, enlightenment and freedom. Where can you create space and say yes to those things in your life? What can you rid yourself of so you can say yes to more things that enrich and engage you in your life? Share your ideas in the comments below. ❤️❤️❤️
