What if you started listening to your heart and started saying “Yes”? How might your life be different?

Now this does not mean you shouldn’t keep your focus on your goals and say “Yes” to just anything. It means saying “Yes!” to opportunities, challenges, risks and requests that are presented to you that serve your bigger vision and mission. The majority of the time our response initially to such things is “no I can’t” or “let me think about it” which keeps us in a state of uncertainty and stuck energy. Those situations often times are doors of great opportunity.

Behold, the power of “YES!” It is a simple three-letter word, but packs a whole lot of punch.  How many times does your gut (or heart) say YES! to something that you know would serve and lift you higher? But then you “think about it” and all the insecurities and doubt tell you no. This has happened to me countless times, and what I found was when I ignored the yes or what I call a “God tap” I eventually got hit with the 2×4. When I followed my heart and said YES! that is when the blessings (and money) started really coming in.

Stephen Colbert in his 2006 Knox College commencement speech offered the same profoundly simple piece of advice: Say, “Yes”. Using an example of improvisational theater Colbert explains how important “yes” can be. It allows you to open doors of communication and opportunity in any situation with any person.

So, say “yes.” In fact, say “yes” as often as you can. When I was starting out in Chicago, doing improvisational theatre with Second City and other places, there was really only one rule I was taught about Improv,” said Colbert. “That was, “yes-and.” In this case, “yes-and” is a verb and “yes-anding” means that when you go onstage to improvise a scene with no script, you have no idea what’s going to happen, maybe with someone you’ve never met before. To build anything onstage, you have to accept what the other improviser initiates on stage. They say you’re doctors — you’re doctors. And then, you add to that: “We’re doctors and we’re trapped in an ice cave.” That’s the “-and.” You have to keep your eyes open when you do this. You have to be aware of what the other performer is offering you, so that you can agree and add to it. And through these agreements, you can improvise a scene or a one-act play. And because, by following each others lead, neither of you are really in control. It’s more of a mutual discovery than a solo adventure. What happens in a scene is often as much a surprise to you as it is to the audience.

Corporations and other team environments will often times bring in improv trainers to help their group embrace the “yes” mentality, because of exactly what Colbert explained. One of the basic principles of improvisational technique is  “accepting an offer” also known as the “Yes, and…” Whatever idea is presented by your partner, it is your job to accept that offer and return with a new one, building upon their previous offer.  Do you see how beneficial this could be in a team or work environment? Building relationships, listening, productivity and brainstorming in this “Yes and…” format.

Applying this principle to our personal life is also beneficial. We can’t grow if we aren’t stretched and we can’t stretch unless we say YES! to our ability and ourselves. It can aid in a more productive, creative and profitable businesses.

Many experts agree that divergent thinking is a key element to facilitating innovation. According to Wikipedia, ‘Divergent thinking is a thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions.’ This mode of thinking requires you to hold back judgment or in other words say, “yes” to potential ideas. Someone with the common “no” mindset will tell you why a new idea cannot be implemented, but someone with a “yes” mindset will come up with a way for this new possibility to work.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is the study of how people communicate, think and change behavior at both the conscious and subconscious levels. For this reason, it is commonly used in sales training. This teaches you that the quickest way to get someone to say “yes” is to say, “yes” first. Imagine how advantageous this could be to you and your business!

Linda Ferguson, Master NLP Trainer, explains it further. “Our natural programming as human beings is to match the communication of people we want to understand. People who hear us say ‘yes’ are naturally conditioned to say ‘yes’ back to us.”

So say YES! Say Yes to opportunities! Say Yes to potential clients! Use the yes mentality to build the life you want. The joy, the freedom, and the money…it’s all there waiting for you to claim it but nothing will change unless YOU do.

© 2012 Inspired Living, LLC

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Keri Murphy and the Inspired Living team is on a mission to empower people to use their unique talents in a way that allows them to Dream, Live and BE all that is possible through speaking, coaching, celebrity interviews and original on-line content. Get Inspired at inspiredliving.tv