How much of your time will you give up for being polite?

In such a rapid environment, where everything is happening faster than our thoughts, how do we find the right balance?

If we don’t participate, we would be missing out or at least this is what we think. In every yes, there is an opportunity. In every yes, you give up one of the most precious assets you have, your time. You invest in that yes hoping it is for the best, giving you the best return of investment, of your time.

I can’t help but wonder how many yeses I have invested in not aligning with my absolute will, that hell yes I want to do–that kind of will. In fact, rarely does it happen, I mean the ones that I absolutely want to do. I can’t deny that many yeses against my will presented me with opportunities that I never foreseen would be the consequence. But then, like a candy store, having something sweet is nice, having all of it will make you sick, having too much of it will make you fat, and having some of it will make you happy.

Yes, yes, yes. Good opportunities present themselves, better ones show up and fantastic ones surprise you. Then, your energy levels go down, because you can’t sustain. You can’t have it all.

You start selecting the nos and hope they were the right ones to neglect saying yes to. With every no, there is one opportunity down but you have retained your most valuable asset, your time.

Have you invested it in a better yes or have you wasted it to a perhaps a lesson learnt at the worst if not a good, great or fabulous consequence?