Self-Awareness for the Emerging Entrepreneur
Part 1 Refining the Art of Saying Yes or No
Editor’s note: This is the first installment of an eight part series entitled Self-Awareness for the Emerging Entrepreneur.
This series will share tips and strategies to keep you connected to your best You through the ups and downs of entrepreneur life. It’s a blend of my leadership experience, life coaching and motivational knowledge to keep you feeling good, making sound decisions and overall position you as the Brilliant leader you can potentially be.
I once worked with a client who was the absolute sweetest guy. He was known in his circles as the guy who people could ask anything of because he wanted to help. He was also sometimes known as the guy who wouldnt follow through. Always committed being the “nice guy” he would often say yes to favors asked without fully thinking through the impact of his decisions.
On multiple occasions this client said yes to favors resulting in being over-committed, over-whelmed and not able to follow through on what he promised. This left people angry and on the verge of losing their trust. As an entrepreneur you’re aware time and energy are precious and need to make decisions with success in mind.
Most importantly you have to trust your intuition to guide you to do what is right for you. If any place in life will teach you how powerful saying no can be, its in the world of entrepreneurship. Especially handy for those who have trouble saying no to others, I share here some questions to ask yourself when considering making a commitment to something:
SAYING YES OR NO IN YOUR PERSONAL LIFE
- Do I WANT to do this? Its Amazing how often the small, basic things can make a difference if we just listen to them. First and foremost, do you want to do it? Be careful now, this question didnt ask if you feel you should do it. The question is, in your heart, is this something that you want to do? Are you honoring what you want?
- Am I the right person for the job? Do I have the skills/traits/resources necessary to get the request fulfilled correctly? You want to answer this one truthfully, and not from a place of ego. We all have our areas of strengths. Is what is being asked of you playing to your strengths, or is there someone else who may be suited to handle that instead?
- Do I have the time and energy to fully commit to carrying out the task? If youre an entrepreneur you likely have tons of things going on and already extending yourself in multiple directions. If your heart is there and you have the time and energy, then this is an Excellent opportunity to fill your positive karma box. But if not, it is perfectly okay to say so.
- If none of the above are true and you still find yourself saying yes, what is driving that yes? Sometimes our needs to feel helpful or validated drive us to a yes to that to which we really want to say no. Sometimes its a lack of time management. Sometimes folks dont have the language to say I think the world of you but this is not something I can commit to doing right now. Whatever the case is for you, pinpointing it is the first step in making the choice to continue the pattern or changing it.