YES OR NO? DO OR DON’T?

I am not sure which one is powerful – power of ‘affirmation’ or power of ‘denial’. Is it ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Should we be, ‘yes, I can’ or ‘no, I can’t’! I really get confused which approach is powerful or which attitude to adopt.

For many years in life, I was conditioned to adopt the “so called words of wisdom”, ‘try saying “YES” to whatever comes your way’. Motivation was\, saying ‘YES’ opens new opportunities, it’s a way to explore, take on challenges in life, come up with new ideas and innovate’. It’s the quickest and best way to learn thoroughly. One gets to try out multiple things. It’s an automatic way to multitask and forcefully learn time management.

But, there is a glitch…. As you progress in life, this power of “YES” seems to get overpowered with those management techniques which keep telling you ‘learn to say NO’. Saying ‘NO’ is equally important. Its easy to say ‘YES’ than ‘NO’. Saying ‘NO’ helps us to prioritize our tasks, improves our focus and enhances our performance - ultimately helps us to manage time effectively.

In short, both approaches lead to time management, both way we learn. And then there is also a ‘disclaimer’ – you need to identify the fine balance between saying ‘YES’ and ‘NO’. It’s the time, situation, people around you that need to be considered to decide whether to say “YES” or “NO”. Is it that easy to hop on hop off, from ‘Yes’ to ‘No’ or ‘No’ to ‘Yes’ approach?

Come on…this discussion doesn’t solve my dilemma. What do I do? At times, I end up saying ‘YES’ to what I should have said ‘NO’ (as per my dear daughter who is very sure of when to say ‘NO’!) and also end up saying NO when I should have said Yes. Hindsight is always wiser.

Help me, if you can to decide which way to follow…….