The “easy-yes” are the things you want to nurture and protect. It’s clear for you to say “yes, I want more of this in my life!”
In order to protect the “easy-yes” quadrant of your life, you need to develop discipline. And in order to develop discipline, you have to improve your habits.
If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend the book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear.
I’ve spoken before about the power of building positive habits. When it comes to protecting space on your calendar for the things you love, you can’t just hope that you’ll find time in your busy schedule for exercise, sleep, and play.
“But Dawn, I just don’t have time…!”
I know, I know!
You struggle with limited free time.
Have you dealt with your “easy-no” tasks yet? If not, absolutely start there.
Have you started to deal with the “difficult-no” tasks yet? This takes more reflective inner work and is much harder to handle, but it’s the secret to creating the space you need. What I tend to see is that people are happy to optimize the “easy-no,” but less inclined to face the hard work of the “difficult-no.” Then they try to force themselves into punishing new habit routines to get to the “easy-yes,” but are forced to give up after a few days.
Because they are too sleepy.
Because there aren’t enough hours in the day.
You have to make space first.
While you’re working on minimizing the “no tasks” in your life, can you add just 5-10 minutes of something you love into your schedule today? Maybe put it first thing in the morning so you can start the day off with the great intention to be compassionate to yourself?
I’m sure you’ve heard successful people rave about their morning routines. Now you know why–they’re putting their “easy-yes” tasks first thing in the morning before anything else can encroach into their day. In other words, they have developed the discipline to do what is important before doing anything else.
Question: “what might a 5-minute easy-yes morning routine look like for you?”
