In the book, The Big Idea the authors present a thought that reminded me of something I read when my oldest child, Mila, was a baby. On average a child hears the word NO 200,000-300,000 times by the time they are 5 years old. That's a really scary proposition for a little person.
In The Big Idea the authors talk about leading with a 'YES'. In other words when someone brings an idea to you don't automatically say NO...say yes first. I know that may sound scary because when you say yes it usually means 'I agree'. But what if you said "Yes'...lets see how that can work and explored until it was obvious either through prayer or logic that the idea just won't work.
Let me give you an example of what we usually do...
I once had a conversation with my wife before we were dating, back when we were just friends, and she said quite clearly...'I could never date much less marry someone like you who has been divorced and has children'. At the time of this conversation I was pretty sure that we were supposed to be togther but her words CUT to the bone. I was dejected and actually did not want to talk to her for some weeks. It HURT. Some years later now we can't imagine life without the other.
Was my idea bad. It was not but her leading with a NO really affected me because I almost quit on trying to persue her. thankfully GOD saw it differently.
BUT what if she had said...'Yes lets see if that could work'. A couple things would have been different.
- I would not have felt that dejection that took almost a month to get over
- When GOD spoke to her and told her she was to be with me she would not have had to get over her pride
Ok so that's rosy....what about in business or at work.
They say neccesity is the mother of invention. If that's the case then it also means there was a problem that everyone previously had said no to that someone showed up and said yes to and found a way to make it happen. Saying YES forces us to dream of new ways to accomplish a task that at the surface looks like a bad idea or impossible.
A couple practicle things saying YES gets you
- More time to figure something out - when you say no...usually its done. Saying yes lets see how we can make this work allows you time to create.
- Ability to say 'Not now' - some ideas are great but offered at the wrong time. saying yes shows the presenter you care so if you have to say 'not now' after researching possibilities they feel valued
So what reasons do you have that you can't say 'YES'?
