Photo by Nathan Gibbs (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathangibbs/)

So i had a thought this morning and tweeted it asap (as we do when a thought of brilliance overtakes us 🙂

But after the impromptu tweet, the thought was stuck in my mind and the more i thought about it, the more i realized that i had more to say about it. Now you are reading the result of that.

As i have mentioned before, i definitely fall on the optimism side of the atitude scale, so saying that ‘No’ is a strategy to follow feels very very weird. I do however think that saying ‘No’ more often will result in much more freedom than ever before. Most people want to pursue as much opportunities, ideas, clients etc as possible. This results in the positive, resounding ‘Yes!’ when new business or ideas are presented. The problem with agreeing to pursue every opportunity is that it automatically means that you cannot pour yourself into the few great opportunities.

Saying ‘No’ more often will result in the time / scope / capacity / freedom to really wholeheartedly pursue that which you are truly passionate about. Instead of chasing many opportunities and having your ultimate goals written down on a list.

Here’s why you (and i) should say ‘No’ more often:

1. When you say ‘No’, you give yourself the space to say ‘Yes’ when it really matters!
2. ‘No’ keeps mediocre, time consuming activities out of your life
3. Saying ‘Yes’ draws whatever you are agreeing to into your time / energy / attention sphere (this is holy ground, so tread carefully)
4. I believe there is more than enough opportunities around to accept that great ideas will come my way
5. Giving your half your attention to a half-assed idea will affect all of you

Do you agree with me? ‘Yes’ or ‘No’? 😉