From the facilitator of our Ashland WAM! Meeting, Sean Hamon.
Like many of you I’m often asked to participate in a myriad of different things. Attend this meeting, be a guest speaker at this meeting, volunteer for this charity, etc. Often each one pulls on something that aligns with who I am.
Years ago I found myself looking for a way to slow down. A colleague was kind enough to give me a free piece of advice. He said, “You have to find a way to filter out the good yeses from the best yeses.” The more I thought about that simple statement, the more it made sense. I began to whittle down the idea of what would make something my best yes? Here is what I found: You can only say your best yes if you know what your ultimate purpose is in life. Many things will claw for your attention. Many things will seem to fit the bill of a great opportunity. For me learning to say my best yes came from a grounding in what my ultimate vocation is. Vocation isn’t what I get a paycheck for, it’s not what I do for fun and it’s not what gets me accolades. My vocation is something that defines the storyline of my life. It’s the common thread that shows up again and again.
Here’s an exercise that helped me tremendously as I learned to say my best yes. Take a notebook or your phone and answer two questions after every activity you do. Question 1: What about that activity drained me? Question 2: What about that same activity fueled me? Simply make notes on these things for a couple of weeks. Then go back and look for themes. What did you find? What did you learn about yourself? Note what fueled you and ask yourself how can I do more of that?
If you need help with saying your best yes, stop by our Thursday morning meeting and meet up with us. If you can’t make that, reach out to me and we can chat.
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