There other night I saw the new film Yes Man, starring Jim Carrey. This is based on a book by the writer Danny Wallace, although the film follows a different story to the book. The basic premise of the plot is that the main character leads a boring life. Since the breakdown of his marriage he has become an introvert and says “No” to going out with his friends and similar opportunities. He attends a cult-style seminar where a man describes to him the power of saying “Yes”. He is told that he needs to say “Yes” to everything, obviously with appropriate entertaining consequences.
Behind the easy watching of the film is a real message that good things happen if you start to say “Yes” to things. How many opportunities have you passed up on because you are stuck in the rut of your current job or group of friends? Remember the last time you did something truly spontaneous? I bet you had a great time that you weren’t expecting.
Before I get in to the reasons why you should say “Yes” more, I feel that I should justify this in the context of some of my previous writing. When talking about maximising your time and making sure that you have control of your time and not letting people steel it from you, I have talked about learning to say “No”. The point of this is that you should say “No” to things that do not get you towards the places where you want to be, or those that add to you already endless to do list and give you no real reward.
Reasons to say “Yes”
1. Learn something new
If you say yes to something that you wouldn’t normally, chances are you will learn something new. Everything we do is a learning experience, but if we repeat the same routines over and over again then you will start living you life on auto-pilot. Saying “Yes” to something new is a great way to open your eyes to a whole new world of experiences and opportunities.
2. Operate outside of your comfort zone
Often we say no to new experiences because we are afraid (either consciously or subconsciously) of what the experience will bring us. Operating outside of your comfort zone teaches you deal with difficult situations. “Do something everyday that scares you” Eleanor Roosevelt.
3. Choose your destiny
You are where you are today as a consequence of the decisions you have made up to this point in time. By saying yes you are making a conscious effort to have a positive influence on the direction your life is taking.
4. Help others
Do you really spend enough time helping others? When was the last time you said “No” to a friend and missed out on something great. Say “Yes”, help and spend time with others. This is something that you will only regret if you don’t do it. Life is too short to say “No” to everything. When was the last time you had the opportunity to help someone else but refused? Say “Yes” and make someones day, as well as your own.
5. Help yourself
It’s not just opportunities and other people you may want to think about saying “Yes” to more, but also yourself. How many things do you censor yourself from doing? Think back to something you said “No” to in the past and now regret. Don’t live in regret, allow yourself to say “Yes”.
Obviously this is the “Yes” side of the argument, but I think you should give it a try. Start saying “Yes” to more opportunities (not pointless tasks) and see where it takes you.
What do you think? Will you give it a try?
Image by davespilbrow on Flickr via Creative Commons
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree. While I am not a Jim Carrey fan I thought of watching the movie just for the message it conveys (probably what the book focused on more) which is saying yes creates a broader experience. I think that is something we can use a lot more of!
Jay’s last blog post..The Ripple Effect
Chris, glad to hear you’re still writing these type of posts. Thought we lost you to travel blogging ;)
Selectively saying yes and attending to the things that matter to you is the reason why we say no to everything else. Great way to convey that message. I think I’ll have to check that movie out too, though I have to live up to my frugal namesake and catch it on DVD ;)
@Jay – It’s an easy to watch film and the manager from ‘Flight of the Conchords’ is in it too. Book is nice light reading.
@FrugalNYC – Well my travels don’t start till the end of 2009 so there’s plenty more…the idea is that it will be a transition from stressed out worker, seeking productivity to free lifestyle designer see the world (or something like that).
I need to say Yes to open my own rustic authentic Italian pizzeria. This is the year 2010.