When Saying Yes Is the Next Best Step

When Saying Yes Is the Next Best Step

Inspired by this week’s Moms Making Six Figures Podcast featuring Tisha Parker who believes in the power of saying yes when opportunity knocks, rather than letting your fear or the unknown keep you confined within your comfort zone.   Sometimes saying yes is just the push and motivation we need to answer the door and walk through it.

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Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group and English business mogul, is revered for his limitless vision, which he attributes to his boldness and his willingness to say yes.  “Even if I have no idea where I’m going or how to get there, I prefer to say yes, instead of no…opportunity favors the bold.”  Imagine if we approached our own lives and business endeavors with that same unshakable belief, if we saw in ourselves what other already recognize.  The reality is, the opportunity wouldn’t have been offered, or presented itself, if there was any doubt about whether you were the right person for the role, or if you lacked the skill set necessary to follow through.  The only thing limiting us is our paralyzing over-analyzing and our fear of the unknown.

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Opportunities Are There, If We Take Them

Countless professionals and entrepreneurs have regrets over opportunities come and gone, but rarely have any ever taken the leap and experienced disastrous failure.  If anything ,those setbacks become setups for another opportunity more aligned with your vision and your skill set.  Mark Perna—speaker, author, and CEO, finally began to experience growth in his life and career by adopting a simple philosophy: “Say yes…and then figure out how.”   Your capabilities will be stretched, and your comfort zone redrawn.

You Were Already Chosen

If an employer asks us to complete a task that we don’t know how to do, we don’t say no, instead we learn how to do it and develop a new skill in the process.  We feel safe taking on these risks because we feel known by our employers—they wouldn’t ask us to do something they didn’t think we were capable of.  But, when it comes to clients, or acquaintances, those very same asks, elicit a gut reaction of self-doubt and the words, “I’m flattered, but…” tumbling out of our mouths.  If we are being sought out or referred, our skill set and our capabilities speak for themselves.  We need only to silence our inner critic, and step into what others see in us. According to Tamara Kulish, personal development author, “If we can see ourselves through the other person’s eyes, we can see they already see us as being capable of learning the needed skills, because we’ve done it before. By taking a step back from our fears, from our anxieties, we can look more objectively at ourselves, and gain the self-confidence we need to move forward!”

Get Fanatical

In order to say yes, without knowing the how, you’ve got to be a bit fanatical.  Your passion, your fandom, for your vision or your calling has to overshadow your inner critic and your self doubt and it has to put imposter syndrome in its place.  When you are wildly passionate about something, you live in a beautiful state of naïve and zealous possibility.  If you are a Dallas Cowboys fan, no amount of losses will ever cause you to walk away from your team.  Similarly, if you become fanatical about your calling, your comfort zone will no longer exist because you’ll want to say yes, even if your logical side is telling you to say no.  This is the exact phenomenon Carole Fossey describes when she was asked to write a chapter for the wildly successful book, The Law of Brand Attraction, a collaboration of over 20 entrepreneurs to inspire and encourage other entrepreneurs during these difficult times.  Her love of writing and helping others superseded her to-do list, her “yes” became the catalyst for action.

“If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later!” –Richard Branson

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When was the last time you said yes, without hesitation or reservation in the pursuit of your dream?  What if we changed our mindset to one of invitation?  What if we showed up to the party, established connections, and found community with other fanatical visionaries?  The secret to success is motivated innovation; it starts with a yes.