Some of us are “people pleasers.” We never fail to agree to something when asked. Some of us have what Dana K. White calls “TPAD – time passage awareness disorder.” We never realize how much time a task will truly take. Some of us suffer from an unhealthy amount of wishful thinking. We have many ideas, and we want to do them all right now. Whatever the reason, some of us just have difficulty saying no even when we know we should. At work, this often leads us to feeling overworked and overwhelmed. Even as a freelancer or small business owner, we may decide to do things we know we don’t have the time to do.
When I first prepared to make the move to full-time writing, I had grandiose ideas of what I wanted to do. Then reality set in. Good writing takes longer than I expected. Marketing eats up time, and research uses up even more. I won’t pretend that I have my daily schedule all figured out because I am, in fact, still working on how to get everything done in a timely manner. However, I have learned the art of reasonable trade-offs. If I have options A, B, and C but only have time to do one of them, I’ve learned I must make a tradeoff. I can do A, B, or C, but I can’t do all three or even two of them. I must make a tradeoff and pick the thing I most want or need to do. I’m saying yes to one option, but I’m saying either no or not yet to the other two options.
Accepting life as a series of exchanges is a little like being hit with a bucket of ice water. The reality is we will never be able to do everything, and over time, we will come to realize what we really want to do versus what others tell us to do. With experience, the tradeoffs become easier to make, and the ability to wait for outcomes improves. It’s important for us to learn to say no or not yet when a situation calls for it because it’s better than trying to do too much. Learning when to say yes may limit the number of activities, but it will often increase the number of successes because we will devote the proper amount of time to the goals we choose. When making a choice, think about long-term planning instead of short-term activity because saying no or not yet in the present will help us clarify what to say yes to in the future.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Inspirational Verse for the Day:
You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail. (Proverbs 19:21, NLT)
All Things Subject to Change 