Do You Have Trouble Saying “No” to Yourself and Others as a Business Owner?

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Do You Have Trouble Saying “No” to Yourself and Others as a Business Owner?

Are you a business owner who has a hard time saying “no” to anyone let alone yourself?  If you are, then fear no more.  Keep reading and if you are a business owner that can say “no” to yourself, then keep reading too.  We need business owners that can say “no” to themselves to model for those of us business owners who cannot.

Looking back, has saying “yes” got you in trouble in your business?  Maybe deep down inside, a little voice was telling you to say “no”, but you didn’t listen to it AGAIN, and now you are over-committed, undervalued, exhausted, or all of the above.

Well, it’s time to listen to that little voice and stop saying “no” to over-commitment and start saying “YES” to yourself.  Why do you ask?  What good will that do?  Let’s find out.

When we have a hard time saying “no” to others and ourselves, then we are not putting ourselves first, we are putting others first.  There may be a fear that saying “no” will result in less money, fewer clients, and not being liked.  However, if we pause for a moment and take a look at the bigger picture, what we notice is that we are lacking respect for ourselves, our expertise, our time, our value, and our ability to support ourselves as business owners.  And that hurts.  Ouch!  Let’s stop hurting ourselves and start placing boundaries for ourselves so when can show up for ourselves and others the way that we want to and begin to live the life that we want to live!

How to Place Boundaries on Ourselves

Set a Schedule

Set a schedule for work and home.  How many hours do you want to work per week.  What days and times work best for me and my family/lifestyle?  How much money do you need to charge to make enough to live on, to create a savings, and to have extra spending money?  How would you like to live?  

Don’t Budge

Don’t budge your time, budget your time and stick to it.  This is where you can fall into a trap.  Oh, I can say “yes” this one time, then another time comes, and another, and soon enough, you are back to where you started…over committed, not enough time, and depleted.

Prioritize

Prioritize what is important to you.  Family, friends, exercise, me time, free time, play time, work time.

Hire Help

Hire an assistant.  Read more about how to determine if its a good time to hire an assistant. It may also be valuable to hire a business coach to set short and long term goals, prioritize tasks.

Decide what you want

Determine what inspires you and keeps you motivated? What gets in the way of moving forward and reaching goals? What do you need to shift in your life to reach those goals?

By setting boundaries for yourself, this practice will allow you to start saying “YES” to what is important to you, what inspires and motivates you so that you can have the business that YOU want to have and YOU can be the business owner that you want to be.

 

Lisa Lewis has gained extensive training in the mind-body connection with three certificates in energy healing, Level 2 Reiki certified, and a masters degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. She is also part of the Disaster Mental Health Team for the world’s largest volunteer network, the American Red Cross. Lisa is a certified Bereavement Group Facilitator so she has a passion for helping those in need. Get in touch with Lisa at [email protected] or call her for a free consult: 626.319.5076