The Law of Yes

Full disclosure, this is not the first time you’ll hear about this topic. It’s not an original idea, but it’s important and bears repeating here. When you say “yes” to something, you’re saying “no” to everything else. When we say “I do” to our spouses it’s typically with the agreement that we’re saying “no” to every other suiter. When we say “yes” to a meeting, we’re saying “no” to anyone else who wants to meet with us at that time. Your “yes” closes more doors than your “no.”

Why are we so conditioned to say “yes” so frequently? We have movies about saying “yes” to every question posed to us throughout a day and how opening and freeing that is, but it isn’t. Saying “yes” is constrictive. Saying “yes” removes more opportunities than saying “no” does. Diana Chapman is intentional about leaving her calendar open to experience the exquisite moments in her life. Do you have time for the exquisite in your life?

The answer can’t always be “no.” We should have rules about when to say “yes” and when to say “no.” At least, we should be in the practice of understanding what we’re saying “no” to when we say “yes” to something else. One of the best practices you can have is to put off your decision. We’ve all had situations where we’ve said yes to something only to have a better opportunity come our way for the same time slot. Give yourself time to make the right decision. 

What do you think? Is this idea constrictive or is it liberating?