Big Stones

"It takes bigger stones to say NO than yes."--KM


The key phrases of my day are:
1. Action, Action, Action
2. Fulfill your life by the day
3. One day makes one week, which makes a month, which makes a quarter.

None of those phrases are possible without realistic goal setting, phenomenal scheduling, relentless persistence, (a nervous twitch), and the ability to SAY NO.

My brother and I were having a conversation about how he can’t say no. That mentality then throws off the entire rhythm of his day due to over packing his schedule, which then creates anxiety and rushing. Personally, I have the same problem. I want to be everywhere. I want to be everything. And if I am not, I feel like I am missing something or letting someone down. But am I? I sat down with a very successful executive and one of his "tidbits" was… "It takes bigger stones to say No than yes". At the time that phrase didn't really make sense...but I now understand it completely. It finally sank in due to a combination of an action packed day of diverse activities. If I hadn’t taught myself how to say no, everything in my life would have suffered. I will give you an example... I was asked by a sports team back in January if I was going to try out for their team. Everything in my BEING wanted to say yes. I am a competitionaholic but before I gave an answer I took a step back and wrote out my schedule if I were to say yes...and let’s just say my life was going to be going 100 mph from 5:00 AM until 10:00 PM with no wife/family/friend time. But something inside of me still wanted to say yes even after looking at my schedule! Can you believe that?! What is it about our society that people just expect YES? Well...as you may have predicted, I said NO. It still makes me feel awkward just writing it. But in saying NO, I have been able to say YES to more important things that allow me to reach my ultimate goals, personal and monetary. The lesson here is that we need to prioritize our lives, not just our days, and say NO to things that affect our long term plan rather than fixing a short term "craving". Trust me...it’s going to be tough to get used to but once you set your eyes on a prize, “YES” doesn’t come as often as it used to.