Say No to Say Yes

  Here we are at Week 2 of our Beat Busyness Challenge.  Did you participate?  How did you do?  Did you resist the pull of that unimportant chore, habit, busyness in favor of making some connection and savoring a little more time?Personally, I had a couple of good phone conversations I might now have otherwise.  I also spent some extra time with a client's neighbor and even enjoyed a funny conversation with a store clerk.  If I had been hyper-focused on being too busy, I would have missed these exchanges. I hope you had some good, found, experiences too.Consciously choosing how we spend our time when we can is the single most important thing we can do to create our life.During our first round of Better & Beyond, I spoke of Lysa Terkeurst's book, The Best Yes.  One of our focuses one week was learning how to say No in order to say Yes to something else.  I love this concept and think it is vital for our health, growth and finding and sharing our personal gifts.  Oftentimes the choices we make are not between one bad thing and one good thing.  The choice can be between two equally good things.  How do you choose?  Sometimes you just have to make a choice.  The worst thing is to find yourself saying yes to both things.  That will likely bring on a harried, hurried pace, more busyness and all the clutter and stress that comes along with not editing your day, week and life.We all come into different seasons in our life.  Perhaps you have been stuck in something.  Maybe it is a volunteer job that you have outgrown.  Perhaps it is to simply always say yes when asked to do something because that is what you have always done.  Perhaps you are handling a work project that could easily be handled by another.  Are there things you have been putting off experiencing, learning, attempting?  Learning to play the guitar, taking a pottery class, taking on a more challenging responsibility at work, joining a supper club, teaching yoga - whatever it is that has been lingering at the back of your mind.  You CAN find and make the time to do things that are truly important to you if you edit out the things and the busyness that are not really adding to your growth, your experiences and your joy.Week Two Activity:This week, think about what you can say no to in order to say yes.  If feasible ACT on it!  Say yes to something meaningful to you, an even better yes for you, your time, your family and your health.  I would love to hear what you would like to say no to, what you would like to say yes to.  I know this freedom can be a good thing.Remember to leave a comment on the weekly blog post, on my Instagram or FB Page of how you are unbusying with our weekly activity.  Tag me on Instagram and include the hashtag#BeatBusyness#Week2Enjoy Your Unbusy Week!