EP 92: Saying “No” To The Good & “Yes” To The Great

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Hello, welcome back to the Think Happy Podcast. I absolutely have to start today. If you are listening to this episode on the day that it airs, then happy birthday to my sister, my sister, Bailey. I love you, sister. You are one of my all time favorite people in the entire world. And I hope that you have just the best birthday. Happy, happy birthday. I love you. Okay, now to the episode. So the notion of saying no to the good so that you can say yes to the great is one that I have thought about for more than 10 years now. It is something that I have thought about talking about on the show before. And now here I am actually talking about it on the show. It's about darn time. Before I get deep into this topic of saying no to the good, yes to the great, I want to first take just a second to tell you about Think Happy's brand new first ever hybrid program. So hybrid means that it is a mix of group coaching and one on one coaching. And this specific program is geared specifically to moms. It is called the Mom Life Bundle.

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Inside, we cover things such as having routines as a mom, getting through to-do lists with kiddos, and serving yourself first so that you can serve others, such as your kids, your spouse, so that you can serve others better. Inside includes lifetime access to multiple on-demand training videos and workshops. It includes eight weeks of group messaging and two weeks of one-on-one messaging, like just between you and me. It also includes eight weeks of group calls and two one-on-one calls just between you and me. So that's where that hybrid comes in, the mix of group, group calls, group messaging with a mix of one on one coaching. So solo messaging and solo calls. Okay, so this program, the Mom Life Bundle, will be selling for two payments of 419. But to celebrate the first month of this, to celebrate Think Happy's first hybrid offer, I am offering it to the first four mamas who sign up for just two payments of 367. Oh, my gosh, I am so excited. Send me a message on Instagram that says, Mom, Life, Bundle, and I will send you all of the information and we will get you signed up and ready to rock and roll.

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Okay, now without further ado, let's talk about saying no to the good so you can say yes to the great. So I was first introduced to this when I was working at Chick-fil-A. I think it was when I was working at the corporate office in Atlanta. Anyway, it struck a chord with me and it's something that I still think about regularly even now. I feel like I think about this at least once a week. And I think what has stuck with me is this idea or not idea, but just knowing that there are lots of good answers out there. There are lots of good opportunities, lots of good things to say yes to. But the more we say yes to good things, the less room we have to say yes to the great things, okay? The more we say yes to good things, the less room we have in our schedule, the less time we have, the less energy, the less bandwidth we have for great things. And wouldn't you rather have something great than something good? So as I mentioned at the top of this episode, having an episode surrounding this topic is something that I've had on my list of episode ideas for quite a while now.

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But the other morning, I was reading my devotional and the notion of saying no to the good so you can say yes to the great was shown to me in a whole different perspective. I guess you could say I took it as a sign to just write this episode and now share it with you. So I thought about paraphrasing what I read. But as I prepped to record this episode, it just felt better to read it out loud to you. I have never done anything like this on the Think Happy podcast before, but the author, Lisa Terkhurst, says it better than I ever could. As I'm sitting here, I'm drinking the most delicious cup of Kirbeans coffee. Kerbyn's is a wife and husband duo who turned their passion for coffee into a business. They are so sweet and it makes me so happy seeing their business thrive. Now, let me tell you why Kirbines is thriving. To put it simply, it's because their coffee is amazing. Think Happy has had the honor of getting to pick a Think Happy Signature roast. These dark, roasted, Mexico beans smell like a good day waiting to happen. When brewed, they create the smoothest cup of coffee you have ever tasted, and it is even still good after being preheated.

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If you're like me and frequently get pulled away from your coffee, you know that's important. And I have a special treat for you. Think Happy listeners receive 15 % off their order of Kirbines. Head to Kirrbines. Coffee. Kerbines is spelled K-I-R-B-E-A-N-S. And use code Think Happy at checkout for your 15 % discount. Again, that's Kirbines. Coffee code Think Happy for 15 % off. So we're just going to go with it. I'm going to read to you straight from the embraced devotional. Now I have it right here in front of me. Hopefully you guys like this. If you do like it, tell me. If you don't like it, tell me. And I won't do it again. Okay, so the title of this devotional is The Two Most Powerful Words. And here we go. So this is Lisa, not me anymore. Not too long ago, I stood at the sink trying to ease the stabbing feeling of stress. I had so much pulling at me. I found myself rushing my loved ones in conversation, rushing my kids out the door, rushing to the next thing and then the next, rushing to make dinner and then rushing my people through dinner.

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I had set my life to a rhythm of rush, exhaustion nod, deep places in my heart, demanding me to slow down. But how? I've made my decisions, and now my decisions have made me. Me, this shell of a woman caught in the rush of endless demands. Have you ever felt this same way? I suspect most of us have. Like I said in yesterday's devotion, I'm starting to realize the two most powerful words are yes and no. How I use them determines how I set my schedule. How I set my schedule determines how I live my life. How I live my life determines how I spend my soul. When I think about my decisions in light of spending my soul, it gives gravity to choosing more wisely. Each and everything I say yes to sets the pace of my life. After all, when a woman lives with the stress of an overwhelmed schedule, she'll ache with the sadness of an underwhelmed soul. An overwhelmed schedule leads to an underwhelmed soul, a soul with a full calendar but no time to really engage in life. If you've found yourself caught in a stressful pace recently, I understand.

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I think so much of why my schedule gets overloaded is because I'm afraid of missing out or not measuring up. One quick look at social media and it feels like everyone else is able to live at a breakneck pace with a smile. Their kids are accomplishing more than my kids. Their business pursuits seem more important than mine do. Their home is cleaner. And they even have time to invite dinner guests over to eat food from their garden. Huh? It's interesting to me the timing of God's words in Jesus... Sorry, guys. It's interesting to me the timing of God's words to Jesus in Matthew 3:17. This is my son whom I love. With him, I am well pleased. At that point, Jesus hadn't yet performed miracles, led the masses or gone to the cross. Yet God was pleased with Jesus before all of those accomplishments. His father was establishing Jesus's identity before he started his activities. Jesus heard God, believed God, and remained unrushed. In Christ, God has given us a new identity. But unlike Christ, we forgot. We fill our days and our lives with so much activity that the only way to keep up with it all is to rush.

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And I'm discovering that the source of much of the stress in my life is this constant need to keep up. But what if I'm chasing the wrong desire? Do I really want my life to look more like others or to look more like God's best for me? God's best for me means engaging with life and the people in it. God's best for me means noticing divine invitations and feeling the freedom to say yes, a best yes to the Lord's assignments. If I really want an unrest life, I must underwhelm my schedule so God has room to overwhelm my soul. Today, we must stand moment by moment in the reality of our identity before we resume our activity, grasp this truth and rub it in deep. You are my daughter whom I love, with whom I am well-pleased, well-pleased because of who you are, not because of what you do. Well-pleased because of unfathomable, unconditional love that is not earned but simply given. Wow, you guys. I mean, aren't you so glad I read that instead of trying to paraphrase it, it just... It's a home run. It knocks it out of the park. And saying no to the good so you can say yes to the great sure sounds a lot like underwhelming your schedule so you can overwhelm your soul, right?

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Saying no to things that take up your time, that take up your energy, but maybe are not contributing to replenishing your time and replenishing your energy. You don't have to say yes to every invitation. You don't have to say yes to every request. No, you do not have to. Yes and no are two of the most important words that you can use when it comes to protecting yourself, when it comes to protecting your energy, when it comes to protecting your cup and ensuring that it stays filled. I mean, I don't know what other ways I can say that. I feel so strongly about this notion. There are so many good things out there. There are so many good opportunities for you out there. There are so many good ways for you to spend your time. But there are few ways that are great opportunities, great ways to use your energy, great ways to use your time. And I just so strongly encourage you to take a moment to take a step back and evaluate, right? Are you spending your time and energy on good things or are you preserving your time and energy for the great things?

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I don't know what this looks like specifically in your life. It is going to look different for every single one of us, okay? Like so many things. It is so unique to who you are, to what season of life you're in to what is in your heart. And I just if you are needing the permission to cut back in some areas of your life, I want you to know that it's okay, okay? I want you to know it's okay to say no to good things so that you can say yes to the great things. And so that is a wrap for today's episode. A little bit different than normal, but we're here for it. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope this is something that you enjoyed listening to and I hope that it gave you a little smile and a little bit of encouragement. And I would love to hear what you thought about this episode. Please let me know. Send me a DM on Instagram. My handle is @thinkhapie_co. That is CO. I would love to hear from you and would love your feedback. And you go, girl, go get it. Go get those great opportunities.

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I am here cheering for you. I will be back next week with another brand new episode of The Think Happy Podcast. Thank you for joining me for this week's episode of The Think Happy Podcast. I would so appreciate it if you could leave a rating and review. And if you just can't get enough, find me on Instagram at thinkhapy_co, that's co, and online at thinkhapyco. Com. I'll be back in your ears next week with another episode of The Think Happy Podcast.