Does it ever take you the better part of an hour to send off an email that should have taken you five minutes, as you agonize over every layer of meaning?
Do you ever find yourself dwelling on a conversation you had with someone earlier in the day, going over every nuance of the interaction?
Do you ever defend a boundary of yours at work and then immediately feel bad about it–and worry that your boss is disappointed in you and doesn’t see you as a team player?
This week in Build Yourself+ Live Online we looked what I like to call ‘saying no to say yes’ learning to implement boundaries to all the unfiltered priorities of others (because all the priorities means no priorities) in order to direct our careers in the way we want them to go. We, as women, struggle to say no because we’ve been trained to be accommodating and put others needs ahead of our own. We also get more pushback when we say it–I get women really comfortable learning to say ‘not yet’ as a starter step which is both easier and sometimes can deflect negative perceptions of us. It’s hard to say no but it’s one of the key skills that will move you into the next leadership level.
Saying no is about time management, yes, but it’s also about unearthing a deeper skill–that of checking in with our inner wisdom.
When we practice saying no, we also remember to ask ourselves, what do I really want to be saying yes to?
When we spend our time and energy engaged in people pleasing, we fall out of touch with actively curating what we want, what we really, really want. When I first started this workshop, I thought each participant would, with the help of my strategies, hit the ground running on pursuing what she wanted for her professional life. I’ve learned, over time, that part of my job is to unlock the ballsy (and yes I used that word) girl within you and let her out again.
So when’s the last time you did something, or overdid something just to please someone? Was it today? Was it this morning? Was it five minutes ago?
Do me a favor, say no once today. It’s one of the best ways I know to tap into your “yes”.
