5 Reasons to Say Yes More

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.

yes

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

My Goals Review

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Photo by Monster on Flickr via Creative Commons

Photo by Monster on Flickr via Creative Commons

Life is rather like a tin of sardines – we’re all of us looking for the key. Alan Bennett

In the interests of open disclosure (and practicing what I preach), I thought I’d do a monthly review of my personal goals and where I am up to with them. I usually about once a week do a personal review of my goals and thoughts in a nice leather bound journal that I have. I thought it would be good to post my progress on the blog, as as (slowly but surely) more people visit get some reaction.

I think that doing personal reviews, much like GTDs weekly review, is great for making progress towards your goals. Even though you know what progress you are making generally, when you sit and write it down and make yourself accoutable you really bring to the front of your mind the actual progress you are making. For example, doing this now really reminded me that I am making no progress against goal no. 2!



Goal No.1 – Generate Income without a 9-5

I’ve got lots of ideas bubbling over a the moment. I have put a lot of work in to this blog to learn about social networking, blog writing and internet oppurtunities in general. The idea is not really to monetize this blog, but build on what I learn and track my progress here.

I re-reassured myself that moving from a 9-5 to an income stream that I control myself if the way to go, and I continue to work actively towards that goal.

Projects that I can update on: I am putting together a Lifestyle Project eBook. It’s in the researching phase at the moment but I hope that it will improve my writing ability and add some real value to this site.



Goal No. 2 – Be in a Band

I’m sad to report that I have made no progress towards this goal, other than sending a guitar playing friend a message via Facebook saying that we should meet up for a Jam session. I think that I have been making good progress on the other goals and this has just had to take a back seat. I plan to bring this goal more in to focus in the coming months as I really want to have something together to play at my Dad’s 60th birthday party next year.



Goal No. 3 – Maintain Fitness

I chose the word ’Maintain’ as this is something that I have struggled with in the past. I am pleased to report tha I have made excellent progress towards this goal. My weight loss has been excellent and my strength and endurance increase every time I train. I am very pleased and I am managing to fit the training sessions around my other commitments. This is staying as a goal as I need to maintain it. I have also signed up to a Triathlon at the end of next month (Sprint), but realise that I need to put in place further targets beyond that to keep the maintenance of my training going.

I plan to do this review on here about once per month and would love some comments below! I do have a post coming up about goal setting, but for the moment here is a link so some information about turning Goals in to Habits from Leo over at ZenHabits.

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Beijing Olympics Starts Today: Motivation to Exercise

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Image by Jimmy Harris on Flickr via Creative Commons

Image by Jimmy Harris on Flickr via Creative Commons

“Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person’s physical, emotional, and mental states.” Carol Welch

I’m doing well with my Healthy Living Plan (which I am currently researching and experimenting with, but hope to turn in to posts and an eBook later). Part of this plan involves exercise (as you would expect). Everyone knows that they need to exercise. In fact most people probably need to do far more exercise than they currently do. With the Olympics starting today, maybe that will motivate you to dust off your running shoes and venture out.

There are plenty of good reasons to exercise.

  1. Health Benefits. OK everyone knows this, but hard though it may seem to start,  you will soon look and feel better and that will motivate you further.
  2. Get out. Exercise is a great way to get away from your computer, your phone and the distractions of life. You can just focus on the one activity and that is a rare situation for many people in the modern world.
  3. De-Stress. Exercise releases hormones that reduce stress and relieve tension.

There are issues with exercise that people find difficult.

Starting

This could be starting to exercise (i.e. stopping being a couch potato), or starting a run because it is raining. I find that it is best in this situation to just do it, don’t think about it, JUST DO IT! (see my blog post about this here.)

Maintaining

  1. Don’t skip more than one day without exercise. Make this a personal rule. If you miss a day of exercise (excluding one rest day per week that you should have), make sure that you exercise the next day. No excuses.
  2. Reward. Give your self a reward for hitting a exercising target or goal. Perhaps best to make it something constructive rather than a big cream cake (that would kind of defeat the object of healthy living).
  3. Take Little Steps. There is the saying “Don’t run before you can walk”. Build up gradually otherwise you will get too tired or injured and lose you motivation. Set realistic but challenging goals, and don’t increase by more than 10% per week (that’s time, intensity or weight lifted etc).
  4. Accountability. Make yourself accountable for your exercise. Sign up for a 5k run or a super-sprint triathlon. If you are fitter but need to keep your motivation going, sign up for something bigger like a marathon. Make yourself accountable to yourself and others.
  5. Training Plan. Put together a programme for yourself or find one online. If you plan and set out a training plan it will be easier to maintain. Also it is a good idea to keep a record of your progress as a motivator and to look back on your achievements.

Finding the time.

Set up getting fit (or staying fit) as a personal goal, simplify your goals and eliminate what you don’t need to do. Bring it forward in your consciousness and make time (put it in your diary as an appointment you must attend). If it is important enough to you, you will find the time and make time. Maybe you need to force yourself a bit? Get a training partner or sign up to a local club or group.

GO FOR IT!

Here are some links you might find useful:

Leo’s Tips on Minimalist Fitness – fresh off the ZenHabits press (note I drafted my post above in a meeting yesterday before Leo’s posted this morning!)

Cool Running Couch to 5K plan

Tim’s Geek to Freak Programme

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Just Do It

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Courtesy of Enzo D on Flickr via Creative Commons

Courtesy of Enzo D on Flickr via Creative Commons

“He that can’t endure the bad will not live to see the good.” Yiddish Proverb

I got the idea for this post whilst out on a 3 hour bike ride the other day (I’m in training for a 100k charity ride this weekend). It was raining hard (which is not unusual in the UK!) and as I was cycling along I was thinking about why I was out in the rain. I enjoy cycling and like to keep fit but not in the rain, however I had to ‘Just Do It’ as I needed to get the training in for my upcoming ride.

Sometime you have to ‘Just Do It’. OK, it makes for the most recognisible tag line for a brand going, but also makes for a good mantra – especially when you are faced with things that you don’t want to do. We all face these kind of things, whether it be at some admin you don’t want to do at work or a social gathering you don’t want to go to. Sometimes you have to ‘Just Do It’.

Tips to ‘Just Do It’

  1. Start - i.e. Just Do It. Don’t think about it too much. If you know it is something you have to or need to do. Then most times it is easier to ‘Just Do It’ than to put it off or make excuses.
  2. Enjoy – I think that you should always try and make the best out of any given situation. If you can’t do that in the ‘now’ of doing something then set yourself a reward up for ‘Doing It’.
  3. Move On – Get it Done, finish it, then you don’t have to worry about it any more.