What does saying 'Yes' to things really cost us?

It’s the law of life that everything has its opposite thing. Every action has an equal and opposite action. If you say ‘yes’ to working late just because you feel obliged to, you’re also saying ‘no’ to time that you could’ve spent leisuring with family or friends. If you say ‘yes’ to buying lunch every day, you’re saying ‘no’ to saving up for something you really need. If you say ‘yes’ to sleeping in, you’re saying ‘no’ to chasing your dreams. ‘Ha’, you say, ‘As if sleeping in equates to not chasing my dreams’. It’s true, I am exaggerating a bit, but the point I want to make is that little things add up. The consequences of small actions aren’t felt in an instant, but they become habits that define us.

Let me reframe what I’m saying into a more positive light. If you say ‘yes’ to things that align with your life goals, you say ‘no’ to being a people-pleasing doormat. If you say ‘yes’ to making your lunch, you’re saying ‘no’ to being disorganised or relying on others to meet your needs. If you say ‘yes’ to getting up early, you’re saying ‘no’ to wasting time that you could be putting towards something more productive. Do this consistently, and you become someone who knows what they want in life, has the discipline to organise their day and gives themself the maximum time to achieve it.

So how do you form these habits? Do you need the correct mindset first? Or does the mindset get activated after you start creating the habit? It really doesn’t matter - it’s the classic chicken vs egg scenario. As long as you get started, and you keep doing it for a little while even if you don’t feel like it, your mind will eventually say ‘hey I can’t believe it but I think I could keep going with this’. It becomes a habit and an important part of your life, which then causes it to be cemented even further into your mindset.. and you find yourself one step closer to becoming that person you have the potential to be.

The price to pay for becoming your more glorious self is the suffering that you need to go through to get there. For the longest time, you will never feel like exercising. You will never feel like getting up earlier. You will never feel like you have the courage to disappoint others by saying ‘no’ to them. But over time, as you become more strongly-centred, the scale starts to tip and these things become easier. At this point, you’ll already be facing new challenges in life. C’est la vie. Life is about change and growth.