Say Yes to Possibility
By: Jamie Boyle
If you are like me, you have no idea how to squeeze another activity into your day. You feel frazzled and overwhelmed at times. You look at new opportunities and believe they cost too much—too much of your energy, your time, and yourself.
But there’s a growing body of literature that suggests that “busy” is a disease, that we are poor managers of our time, and that we can do better. One advocate who believes that you have more time than you might think is Laura Vanderkam (lauravanderkam.com/), author of 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think, and the more recent I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make
the Most of Their Time. Vanderkam, who is the author of several time management and productivity books, looks for practical, research-based ways to help individuals combine work, family, and time for themselves on a daily basis.
When it comes to putting the notion of “saying yes to more” into practice, even entertaining the idea can feel like too much. The questions I have had to
ask myself are, “Am I really too busy, or do I just believe that I am?” and “How does my busy-ness impact my ability to seek out new opportunities?”
Reflecting on those questions, I’ve determined that while I’m busy (as most of us are), my busy-ness holds me back. My most productive times in my youth were when I was the busiest—school all day, rehearsals all night, and performances every weekend. I had to make use of all of my available time, and I did. Those were the times where I got the most done and was the most successful.