The Power of Saying YES

Yesterday, I had one of the most unexpected and crazy things happen. I was sitting at home, working, as I typically do on Fridays. I do most of my work from home, right here in this office. I see clients here. I do a lot of my writing here. And, I’m just sitting here doing work. Then I got a phone call from a comedy promoter, saying, “I was at a show you did about a year ago, and we really like what you did. And we had an issue with an opener, for a huge comic that’s here this weekend. Is there any way that you’re available to perform?” And I thought, yeah, I’m in town. I’m here in Dallas. I’m happy to do it. He said, “The only thing is, it’s tonight, and you have to be at the venue in, like, two hours. Can you get here?”

And I was like, oh, my gosh. Like, I don’t have any material. I don’t know. I don’t know this guy. I don’t know his audience. His name is Nimesh Patel, and I looked him up. He’s really well known. Once I saw his face, I recognized him, but I didn’t know the name, so I was like, “Sure.”

And I go there, I meet Nimesh, and he tells me that his audience is typically from India. So make sure you have some jokes that are relatable to people from India. And I’m like, “I have no idea.”

And an hour later, I’m on the stage talking about a recent trip that I took to India. Well, not recent, because of Covid, but anyway, the time I went to India. It was amazing. It was so much fun.

And I realized my life has been completely changed by my ability to say yes.

I think if you can say yes to things and then figure it out as you go, more opportunities are going to come your way.

That’s literally how I got started in the therapy world. I wrote a book. Somebody from Bath, U.K., emailed me and said, “Some people over here like your book. We want to know if you do the keynote at our conference.” I had never done anything like that before, but I said yes and figured it out. And then it launched one of the biggest careers in the history of this field.

So many people hold themselves back for fear of failure, not wanting to look stupid, or all of those things. That makes sense to me. But you don’t realize you’re cutting yourself off from discovering what your greatness is.

I realized all those years ago in 2010, when I said yes to that opportunity, actually 2009, that that was the day I learned I’m pretty good on a stage. And that knowledge, that awareness, has completely changed my life.

So I want to ask you, what could you help your clients say yes to, so that they could change their lives? And then what could you say yes to, that would help you discover your greatness, and make you the best version of yourself as well? Go have fun.