Every Yes Contains a No: How to Make Intentional Decisions About Time, Attention and Energy
This post explores why intentional living starts with understanding the real price of every commitment.
Tanmay Vora
In 2009, I was offered a lucrative internal transfer to another country that required me to stay away from my 3 years-old daughter for about a year.
I wanted to say YES to the opportunity, but not at the cost of saying NO to precious time with family.
Every YES contains a NO (and vice versa). Yes to busywork means no to substantial work. Yes to checking notifications means no to being fully present in a conversation.
Time, attention, and energy are finite.. and every commitment draws from the same limited pool.
So, we need to evaluate real cost of saying “yes” in terms of opportunity it replaces, and not only in terms of effort it requires.
Before saying yes, ask a simple question:
“What could I be saying no to?”
People who live intentionally:
- Understand the value of tradeoffs
- Ensure that every yes is truly worthy of a no it demands.