My part-time job is in fundraising, and I subscribe to a fabulous blog called Passionate Giving. A recent post they wrote was called “Are You a ‘Yes’ Person?” which was a great reminder of the benefits of having a positive personality, the kind of person who says “yes, we’ll find a way,” or “yes, I’ll look at that.”
According to the article, Yes people “tackle problems with a great attitude, yet understand the enormity of the problem at hand.”
No people tend to dismiss opportunities. They find faults. They miss out on the fun stuff because they’re cautious about getting hurt. They say “no” because they see problems instead of possibility.
Of course, the piece reminded me of barefoot running.
I’m willing to bet that if you take a look at the general population and labeled everyone as a Yes person or a No person, it would be distributed approximately 50/50. We need just enough No people to balance out the Yes people. I know plenty of No people, and, believe me, they inspire me to greatness and have me think about the No that lives in me. As a Yes person, No’s show me how I can tweak my own way of being to be more productive, more positive, and more open-minded.
I imagine that barefoot runners are mostly Yes people.
We take on possibility. We take off our shoes and run barefoot, for goodness sake. We look at other areas of our lives that could be tweaked, like natural parenting, natural eating, natural living. We inspire other people and make them look twice, thinking about what in their lives they might say Yes to. We are energized by and attracted to other Yes people.
So, as the article suggests you think about: do you consider yourself a Yes person or a No person? Are you cautious and No in some areas but open and Yes-like when it counts? Do you think your barefoot running is a part of your Yes personality?
