This last week was horribly busy and it’s all my fault. If the dictionary had the term “Yes Woman” in it, I’d be pictured looking fried, worn and well…jacked up. I have a tendency to take on new projects or responsibilities, often with a smile and a “glad to help” attitude. When I’m in the moment of joyfully saying “yes,” life is good. Then reality strikes, as everything I’ve said “yes” to gains momentum, and I’m left frazzled and overwhelmed with way too much to do – a lot like this past week.
I know I’m not alone, so I thought I’d write this post to share how to avoid this situation altogether, and also offer a few effective strategies to get back on track.
Avoidance Behavior
I know…it sounds like a bad thing, but if you have a habit of saying “yes” too much, then you’ll want to use these tips to avoid getting into responsibilities you don’t really need or want:
- Understand why you say “yes” – There are three motivations that drive me to say “yes” – an innate drive to always be doing something, the pleasure of knowing I’m needed, and money. I fell prey to all three of these over the last several weeks and they all happened to peak this week – I said “yes” to serving on TWO volunteer organizations, I said “yes” to helping on a special project, and I said “yes” to teaching more classes. What are your “yes triggers?” What causes you to say “yes” even though you know you’re too busy to take on more?
- Clarify your purpose and key roles – This one goes back to a point I’m passionate about and that’s your personal or family
Update 12-27-08: Unfortunately, this site experienced a major technical failure that resulted in an unknown number of posts that were truncated. This post was included and unfortunately, all back-ups were also destroyed during the technical snafu. We apologize for this incomplete post and are working diligently to re-build the content that was lost.
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