365 Days With Self-Discipline: 365 Life-Altering Thoughts on Self-Control, Mental Resilience, and Success

Day 53: On Having a Burning “Yes” Inside

You  have  to  decide  what  your  highest  priorities  are  and  have  the

courage — pleasantly, smilingly, non-apologetically — to say “no” to other

things. And the way to do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside.

—Stephen Covey

Without the bigger “yes” burning inside of you, there’s no way you’ll

continue making the uncomfortable choices over the long term for the sake

of your goal.

The primary reason why I stuck to entrepreneurship, despite countless

failures,  was  my  intention  to  help  my  parents  build  a  house  in  the

countryside. It was their dream, and by extension, my dream.

This  big  “yes”  had  been  burning  inside  me  no  matter  what  was

happening with my business. Even after another big defeat, I still knew that

I would never “lay down my arms” in the fight to become able to give them

their dream. If you have such a strong “yes” inside you, you’ll also refuse to

surrender the fight to achieve your dream.

Your  burning  “yes”  will  also  help  you  pinpoint  your  priorities  and

disregard  distractions.  For  example,  if  you  decided  to  save  money  for  the

future  education  of  your  child,  saying  “no”  to  spending  money  on  things

you’d like to have (but don’t need) would be much easier than without such

a powerful motivator. You would be focused on the long-view of where you

wanted to be when your child was older .

If  your  biggest  dream  in  life  is  to  become  a  surgeon,  you  won’t  feel

apprehensive about declining an invitation for a party because you want to

prepare  yourself  for  an  important  exam.  The  “yes”  burning  inside  you

would  be  stronger  than  the  fear  of  missing  out  on  a  few  hours  spent

drinking with your friends.

Granted, as we’ve already discussed, there should be some balance in

everything,  but  generally  speaking,  you’ll  do  well  if  you  can  discover  a

burning  reason  why  you  want  to  accomplish  a  given  dream  and

unapologetically  say  no  to  anything  that  might  threaten  your  chances  of

making it come true.

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