How I learned to say NO
There was a time, not that long ago, I said yes to everything. Not only that, I said yes to all of the social media and consumed everything and anything, thinking, well, that’s the way to run a business.
Then the pandemic hit in March 2020 and all of a sudden, I wasn’t being asked as many questions and had a moment of quiet. What I thought would be a horrific time, having some quiet time and not going out and about in my business was actually the opposite. I finally witnessed how thin I had spread myself and my pleasing people had caught up with me.
It wasn’t until later on in the summer of 2020 did I have time to reflect and see the opportunity I was given. I basically hit pause on making decisions about speaking gigs, meeting with people in person, volunteering, and much more. I wasn’t being asked those questions and I secretly liked the break (even though my brain was convinced otherwise!).
Even a few years earlier, I had started putting boundaries around how I used social media. Now, I was beginning to wake up to the possibility of setting boundaries around my personal life and how I ran my business (don’t they meld together a lot for you too!).
Luckily a wonderful colleague of mine, Katherine Hofmann lead a workshop on boundary setting and open my eyes up to the possibilities of how I could hit the reset button and react to future questions. Another coach, Tia Ho, taught me how to pause and helped assess my values so I know WHAT to say yes to and then the nos come much easier. I hadn’t been open or really understood that before.
After practicing and learning how to establish boundaries, I created “Set Your Boundaries” as part of my Marketing Framework. I find that like me, you are probably saying “yes” to too many things - (in fact, I know it - many of you have told me the challenges you’ve faced by NOT setting boundaries). I’m very excited that this is something I now coach and help my clients with and they leave our sessions feeling lighter and more focused.
How are you saying “no”? Are you afraid of missing out by saying “no”? What’s possible if you say “yes” to only the things you really want?