Say No to the Good So You Can Say Yes to the Great

Jack Canfield's Success Principle #43

Are you constantly chasing after misguided schemes for success, dedicating your time to activities that lead you away from your life's purpose? When we say yes to anything that takes us in the wrong direction, we're preventing God from blessing us with something better.

Bypass good opportunities to pursue great ones.
We've already learned that watching television, surfing the Internet, rescuing dysfunctional people, and gossiping on the phone are all time-wasting activities. But that's not exactly the point Jack is trying to make here.

He tells about Sylvester Stallone writing the screenplay for Rocky. Stallone was offered a lot of money for the story, but he wanted more: he insisted on playing the lead role. So he bypassed several good opportunities and found financial backers on his own.

He produced the movie on a measly $1 million budget in just 28 days. Rocky became an instant hit, earning over $225 million in 1976 and winning Stallone Oscars for best picture and best director. By foregoing some good opportunities, Stallone turned his venture into something really great.

What better activity could show up in your life if you were willing to say no to the good?

What do you fear?
In my opinion, a better question to ask would be: Why are you passing up great opportunities to settle for the mediocre? I believe that most people are afraid of failing, afraid of looking foolish, or afraid of the changes that tremendous success might bring. So they play it safe in mundane jobs and volunteer pursuits, all the while preventing great opportunities from surfacing because they keep themselves busy with run-of-the mill work and activities.

God promised to rescue his people and provide them with a land flowing with milk and honey. When they got close to Canaan, the leaders sent spies into the land. They came back carrying a single cluster of grapes that was so huge, two men had to bear the weight of it on a pole between them. It was truly unlike any place they had ever seen.

There was just one problem: the men were terrified of the giants who lived in the land. All but two of them didn't believe that God would help them conquer the inhabitants. Only Caleb and Joshua trusted God and encouraged the people to take over Canaan. As a result, Caleb and Joshua were the only Israelites out of the entire bunch who ever got to live there. (Numbers 13-14)

Are you afraid of going after your dreams? Or do you have the courage of Joshua and Caleb, who believed God's promises to bless them?

Clarify your life purpose.
Do you know what God's purpose is for your life? I know why God sent me to earth. Here's my purpose statement:

My purpose is to use my gifts to teach underprivileged, abused, and traumatized women new life skills so that they can learn how to thrive.

Since I know what my purpose is, it's easy to figure out when I should say yes to great opportunities that arise. I can use my gifts of writing, sewing, or success coaching to help others.

A group of women from church asked me to teach them how to make quilts a couple of years ago. I agreed, because it matched my purpose statement. Quilting turned out to be a great opportunity, because the women I teach are growing in their faith and abilities.

This great opportunity also brings in extra money when I sell quilts through my online store, Hope Quilts of Ohio. This extra income allows me to send money to a missionary in Pakistan who helps women achieve freedom from slavery by teaching them to sew.

Say no to anything that takes you off-track from your purpose.
Someone once asked me to teach Vacation Bible School. I agreed, because they were desperate for someone to work with five-year-olds: my area of expertise at the time. I ended up feeling tired and resentful every day that I worked with those kids. Just because I had a teaching degree didn't mean that good opportunity was a great one for me.

I have learned to discern when I am off-track. I compare opportunities to my life purpose, and if they aren't in-sync, I say no. We must all be careful to say no to good opportunities so that we can make time for the great ones.

Get some good advice.
Jack suggests some activities for bypassing the good and pursuing the great. He recommends talking to advisors about the potential in any new pursuit. We can ask questions of people who have traveled the same road before us. They can tell us how much time, money, effort, stress, and commitment will be required.

Test the waters first.
Don't just jump in with both feet when a new opportunity presents itself, Jack warns. We should run a test, spending a limited amount of time and money. If it's a new career field, we can take a part-time job for a little while to make sure we like it. If it's volunteer work, we can offer limited time to a project first to see if it's what we really should be doing.

Today's Challenge
Clarify your purpose statement to determine whether or not you're spending your time chasing after good opportunities or great ones. If you're headed in the wrong direction, make corrections today to get back on track.

Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com