My Answer Is Yes!

I shared my personal story and struggle with alopecia to an intimate group of women at a local event placing myself in a vulnerable situation. I accepted two speaking engagements during Women’s History Month. I invited 20 women to become panelists at one of those events inspiring college females in the STEAM fields. I invited local media to cover today’s Women’s Athletic Network meeting on the 33rd National Women and Girls in Sports Day. Will they show? I’m not sure but I’m trying anyways. I also communicated with Coca Cola via Twitter about highlighting the women in my organization since they had a fantastic Super Bowl advertisement that inspired me to ask. They did respond with more information.

Is it hard to ask people or companies to say “yes” to a proposal or proposition you are offering? It sure can be at times. Some days we are brazen and courageous willing to take the risk and other days we aren’t. Who knows if it is how well we slept or if the sun is shining or if we were pumped up by a victory in another place in life. Other times, we aren’t prepared to receive a “no” even if we know it isn’t a personal decision on someone else’s part. Maybe it’s raining out or we just got bad health news that makes us not willing to get rejected or hear “no.”

Periodically we say to ourselves, “I’ll wait until I feel better to ask” or “I just don’t want to be rejected today.” Sometimes we say “no” when asked to contribute to something beneficial due to the time commitment or other priorities. Well I can tell you one thing, there has been 1 or 2 times in my business life when saying “yes” was a really poor decision and I’ve been in business for 24 years. Less than 1% of the time I have made the wrong decision in taking the affirmative when asked. Those are pretty good odds if you ask me. I bet if you thought about it, your percentage would be similar so what are you waiting for?

Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is to challenge you to say “yes” more often to opportunities that come your way. When asked to speak, speak. When asked to attend events, attend more than you think are necessary. When faced with propositions out of your comfort zone, consider wisely and then say yes. If we don’t challenge ourselves to accept new adventures every year, we don’t know what we could learn, who we could meet or how the experience opens the door to the next best step professionally or personally.