Recently I wrote about an insight that I gained working with my friend Erek of Verve Coaching, and I thought I'd share another great tip that he gave me. I spoke with Erek about my tendency to get excited about so many projects, that I completely overbook myself and wind up feeling tired and spread too thin. He suggested that the next time I want to take on something new, I try the following exercise:
Saying yes to _________ means saying no to _________.
Since the number of hours in a day, week, or year is finite, it makes sense that generally something has to be displaced when we bring something new into our lives. Maybe it's sleep that we will be getting less of, or down-time. This doesn't have to be a bad thing, it's just nice to stop and reflect before committing to one more thing.
I immediately found a way to apply this at the end of the summer when I thought about how badly I'd neglected my blog for a few months. But when I thought about it further, I realized that I'd been saying no to my blog because I'd been saying yes to being on the beach in my hometown and favorite place ever, Ogunquit, Maine almost every weekend. (Sandy laptop = bad.) Although I had unconsciously chosen one over the other, I realized that if I had chosen more conscisouly, I wouldn't change a thing. It was an awesome summer!
Erek credits the Yes/No exercise to a book called Co-Active Coaching (Whitworth, 2007), but I still give him credit for introducing me to it.
[photo by chrisinplymouth]
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