An Entrepreneur’s Alphabet: N is for No

I went on a fascinating workshop on Saturday put on by The Money Gym.   It was based around some rather challenging NLP exercises about success and my goal, built upon some early feedback from loving colleagues, turned out – again – to be about doing less in order to be more (successful/productive), possibly even just to BE more.   Counter-intuitive for me.   I have thought about it in most of my waking moments since and, to be honest, for one reason or another, most of my moments since have been waking.

The best and most efficient way to do less, though not necessarily the easiest straight off, is for me to learn to say No.   This has been a challenge for me for untold decades, and I have written before that the main person to whom I learn to say No is myself.   For I think I want to do all the things, or most of the things, I commit to and its only the sheer amount of them which makes some of them come to feel burdensome.

I have no-one to blame here but myself and actually, I am not looking to blame anyone, just to learn.   This is not about the things I dont want to do, saying no to those is easy.   I want to do so much, the world is full of fascinating opportunities and people and places, far too abundant for me in fact.   Ooh, she says, noticing what she’s saying there.   Hmm.   Can there BE such a place, such a thing, as TOO abundant?

Yet more feedback (I’m going off feedback) this morning also revealed to me that apparently I also complain and this reveals my burdens to those who are generous enough to listen to me.   Wot me?   So henceforth* I shall also be saying No to complaining.   Ditto moaning.   I shall put myself (again!) on The 7 Day Mental Diet.   I am not sure of the use of the word mental in that sentence, always makes me laugh but there you go.   Laughter is good, we say Yes to laughter.   Yes, Yes, Yes!

Come to think of it, there was a lady on Saturday’s workshop who described herself as being rather too good at saying No and she decided to say Yes more.   We have something to teach one another. I shall go there now and offer a swap.

***

*henceforth = love an old-fashioned word occasionally.