Don Roulo is the CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer) of Life Quest. He is a life, career and business coach as well as a Certified 48 Days Workshop Facilitator. He travels nationally and internationally to conduct business and career training as well as marriage and family workshops.

By DON ROULO

The words “yes” and “no” have opposite meanings of course. However, is there ever a time when you say “yes” you also are saying “no?” Absolutely, and it should be happening in our lives more often.

There is a basic principle in operation when we say yes to something. It is so simple, but many of us, including myself, can miss it. Not understanding how this principle works can cause anxiety, stress and frustration. The principle: Every time you say yes, you should also be saying no.

We all can agree everyone has a limited amount of time and money. There are only 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week and 8760 hours in a year. No matter how much you wish there was more time to get more done, you only have so much time to spend.

Just like with time, there is a limited amount of money we can all spend. Certainly this varies from family to family. Whether you have $20,000 a year to spend or $2 billion dollars a year to spend, everyone still has a limit. Even Bill Gates only has about $50 billion to spend – but he still has a limit.

Baseball season just started, so let’s use little league as an example. You have committed to take your 10 year old to every practice and be at every game. When you said yes to this time commitment, you also should be saying no to something else. You should be saying no to volunteering for a possible community project, work, or dinner with friends. When you say yes, you should also be saying no.

I would love it if all of us had the hardships of Bill Gates when it comes to spending money. However, no matter how hard or how long you work, the money you have to spend is going to be limited. How does ‘yes means no’ when it comes to money?

Spring has finally showed up – thank goodness! Spring projects have started to flood your mind – plant flowers, buy a new mower, pave the drive, put up new gutters. When you say yes to spending money on planting flowers, you should be saying no to spending money on going out to eat.

When you say yes to spending money on a new mower, you should be saying no to spending money on the new fishing boat. (These are just examples. I realize, depending on your income, you can say yes to multiple things. However, you still will need to say no to something.) If you don’t say no, even to good things when it comes to spending money, stress will show up when the credit card bill does.

Saying yes and no is all about choices and setting priorities. Do not allow what is immediately in front of you, no matter how fun or good it is, to become a priority. Saying yes to your son’s little league is the priority, not dinner with friends. Saying yes to planting flowers is the priority, not going out to eat simply because someone asks you to go.

All too often, many of us, including myself can say yes to too many good or even great things. We can find ourselves over spending our time and money, therefore causing undue stress. Every time you say yes to spending your time, energy and money you should also be saying no to something else. Saying yes really does mean saying no.

About the Author

Don Roulo is a life, career and business coach as well as a Certified 48 Days Workshop Facilitator. He travels nationally and internationally to conduct business and career training as well as marriage and family workshops.

As a business consultant, he has written business plans and worked to market products or services as well as organizing financial statements for investors. Because of his success in the sales and business arena, Don has been blessed with the opportunity to train, motivate and inspire others. His passion is to motivate and equip people to find their passion and achieve their goals and God given destiny.