Dispel Your Confusion About Whether To Say 'Yes' or Say 'No'

Source: www.sunsigns.org

Since 7 or 8 years ago, I started on this thing called personal development.

I came from a poor family. Even though I worked my ass up to finally obtain a university, and I was gainfully employed, but waking everyday at the same time, taking the same train, and then doing the same thing in office every day, and then getting off at work at the same time every day was not my cup of tea. A monotonous life is not one that made me feel worth living. What's more, the salary that I was getting would not be enough to take care of my parent's retirement, my own retirement, and start my own family.

I attended many seminars. I still attend many today.

I read many books on personal development.

I read many blogs on how to be successful, on how to improve our personal qualities.

I read many articles on the same topics as well.

I read many quotes by successful people.

Some advise that we have to always say "Yes" so that we will not miss any opportunities because opportunities are the staff that can make us rich.

Some advise that we have to say "No" because we want to be fully focused and shut down all other distractions.

So I've been asking myself: which is the truth? what is the kind of attitude I should have in order for me to have a higher chance of success? I was very confused. Why are there so many schools of beliefs about what will make one successful?

I find that it's about balancing both.

We need to say "Yes" to new ideas, new people, and new opportunities.

At the same time, if we nod our head to so many new things, we won't have time to focus on what we have to do in order for us to reach our goal.

So, over a period of time, I start to get into this pattern: when I run out of ideas, I become fully open. I went to see all kinds of people, listen to all kinds of seminars and review all kinds of new ideas. Then I would narrow down those that will actually help me in what I wanted to do. Then I would start to be more focused and I would turn down more invitations for seminars and discussions, even to the point of completely not attending these events so that I could execute what I had learnt and measure my results. Then I would repeat the cycle again.

I hope this helps to clear up your confusion about being a Yes-Man or a No-Man (including women as well). All the best!