Go on a yes quest

Say yes to a few things outside your comfort zone to make life more interesting

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to go on a yes quest. If life
is feeling a little underwhelming, you might challenge yourself to

(00:24):
say yes a little more frequently. Many new opportunities come
from being open to something that's a little outside our
comfort zones. Today's tip, like some others over the next
few weeks, is from my new book, Big Time, A

(00:45):
Simple Path to Time Abundance. This book, which is out
May fifth, is about what happens when you truly believe
time is big enough to accommodate what matters to you.
With some smart strategies, it is possible to fall in
love with your schedule. One of the tips from Big

(01:08):
Time is to go on a yes quest. I know
that a lot of productivity literature talks about how we
should say no more often, and there is something to that.
I don't want people to spend their precious time on
earth on things that are neither meaningful nor enjoyable for
themselves and the people they care about. That said, if

(01:33):
you think about it, almost all new opportunities, adventures, and
relationships come out of a yes. After all, if you
knew about something, you'd be doing it already. Big breakthroughs
come from trying things you don't know as much about,
which means you have to be open to serendipity. New

(01:57):
opportunities have to be able to reach you. So if
you would like to shake things up in life a little,
why not try going on your own yes quest. The
idea is that for a certain period of time, say
three weeks or a month, you say yes to things
that sound intriguing to you. If you have the money

(02:20):
and you have the time, then you try it out,
even if it is not something you would naturally do.
When I tried this for a few weeks in the
spring of twenty twenty five, I wound up saying yes too,
among other things, swimming with sharks with my oldest child. Now,

(02:40):
this was certainly a memorable experience, and as a bonus,
we saw whales on the boat back to shore. Now
that was pretty cool. When I had two hundred other
people try this out, they had all sorts of interesting
things happen. People agreed to a meeting with someone new
and walked out with job offered. People said yes to

(03:01):
last minute trips that were a total blast. People said
yes to adventures with friends, to meaningful volunteer opportunities, to
joining a choir even though they'd never sung in public before.
Turns out, singing with other people is a lot of fun,
and guess what you can learn to sing now. You

(03:23):
don't have to say yes forever, and you don't have
to say yes to everything. One person who went on
a yes quest agreed to go volunteer at an animal
shelter with their kid, but did not agree to get
a second dog, despite the child making a full PowerPoint
presentation about the benefits. But I think one of the

(03:45):
upsides of saying yes for a limited period of time
is that it nudges us to try new things, precisely
because we know we are not adding things on forever.
We are just trying it for a bit and seeing
what comes of it. Few opportunities in life arrive gift wrapped.

(04:09):
They come when we have a conversation with someone new
and follow up. They come when we go to that
extra event and meet someone fantastic. All of that requires
saying yes, so by all means say no to things
you do not want to do. But if it sounds intriguing,

(04:30):
Try going on a yes quest for a while, and
you just might be surprised at what wonderful things start happening.
In the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for

(04:54):
listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
you can reach at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

(05:17):
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.