Just Say "No"...

Upon reading a few blogs of late, I am noticing a pattern…we are slowly going crazy. I’m noticing that our lives are being driven by outside forces and the driver happens to be a blind-folded monkey, driving a stick shift.

Aren’t we supposed to be the masters of our own destiny? Yes we are, but too few of us have received this memo. At least, we should have received the memo, but truth be told, we probably deleted from our inbox without reading it - after all, we don’t have enough time to sort through all of the spam we are inundated by on a daily basis. Why isn’t there a spam filter on life?

Life “spam” is delivered in all forms and by all methods and media. Whether it be demands that are placed upon us by our job, our family, friends, our gender, the economy, our pets, the weather; we are all allowing ourselves to be manipulated to the point of self-implosion. Why?

Why aren’t we doing anything about it? Why do we continue to allow our lives to be driven by outside forces? Why are we afraid to admit to ourselves that we can’t do it all? We do we feel an overwhelming need to please everyone around us? How do we reverse the spiral?

Well, I believe the secret is held within one little word – No.

It’s a very effective, universal word and although, it may not be the answer everyone will want to hear and it fact, it may be met with some resistance, it’s the word that will eventually provide you with a sense of sanity and with it; you can stop the spiral and get a grip on reality with its use.

I would recommend that you expand upon “No” as required. For example:

“No thank-you”

“No, not at the moment”

“No, means No!”

“What part of No, did you not understand?”

“No can do”

“No way in hell”

Use often and repeat as needed.

But whatever you do, don’t use “No problem” or if you must, use it sparingly. Remember this is what started a lot of our problems in the first place.

“Saying no to loud people gives you the resources to say yes to important opportunities.” Seth Godin