Say yes to stuff

I'm not a genius. I just say yes to things and do my best and show up.

I was on a call this week with our community. Mostly the regular crew, plus a couple new faces, and one of our members kicked it off with a win that got me fired up.

Some background on her... over the last few months I've hit her up with a bunch of different asks. Hey, can you jump in and do an AMA? Yep. Hey, can you run a session for everybody? Yep. And every time she did it I was like, dang, this is great, we should do more of this. So I kept asking. And she just kept saying yes.

And now it's leading to some super cool places.

When I said that out loud on the call she kind of laughed it off and said the line at the top of this post. "I'm not a genius. I just say yes to things and do my best and show up. And dude, you never know what will happen."

I love that she said it like it was no big deal, because honestly that's how it starts for most people. Nobody hands you the big opportunity first. You say yes to the small ask, you do a good job on it, and then the next ask shows up.

Say yes to stuff, even when your plate already feels full.

There's a line a buddy of mine has said a few times that I think about constantly. I'm going to butcher it, but it goes something like this... fill your plate. Like really fill it. Be a little overwhelmed and let things kind of overflow off the edges.

Two things happen when you do that.

One, you figure out you can handle a LOT more than you think you can. Most of us just assume the edge is way closer than it actually is, and we never go find out.

Two, the stuff that falls off the plate and never comes back on... don't worry about it. If it fell off and you didn't go chasing after it, it probably wasn't that important to you. What really matters, and what you really want to do, is going to stay there. And you're going to handle it.

Don't get me wrong, I get it. Stretching yourself is uncomfortable and none of us really want to do it. Saying no feels safer. Life is busy, the calendar looks full, and it's easy to tell yourself you'll say yes next time when things calm down.

Things don't calm down though lol. There's always another reason to wait.

And if she had said no to that first AMA, none of the cool stuff happening for her right now would be happening. It all traces back to one small yes and actually showing up for it.

Here's your homework:

• Look back at the last week and write down one thing you said no to (or just ignored) that you probably could have said yes to.
• The next time someone asks you to jump in on something a little outside your lane, say yes before you talk yourself out of it.
• Pick one thing to let fall off your plate this week on purpose, and see if you actually miss it.
• Whatever you say yes to, show up and do your best on it.

Feeling uncomfortable is just a sign that your old comfort zone is having a hard time keeping up with you.

Stay in the fight, Kevin