Moms: Just say “No”

How can working moms handle the endless demands on their time? Why do we find it hard to just say no?

When we asked guest blogger Karen Keller how moms can say “no,” she wrote a two-part series. Here’s part two:

Direct your focus: Consider the 80/20 rule; 80% of your focus should be on what you want and 20% of your effort should focus on what the other person wants.
Stop auto-pleasing: Say to yourself: “If someone has to be uncomfortable, it doesn’t have to be me.”
Forget perfection: Ever hear “Women want men, careers, children, friends, luxury, comfort, independence, freedom, respect, love and $3 pantyhose that won’t run”?Perfection is doing it all. Balance is by design. Ask yourself is this important or urgent?
Don’t explain: White-lie excuses can backfire. See Mary Poppins’ script from Part One.
Feel good: Feel good about saying no, drop the guilt and watch your results soar. Thinking through your choices is to have more say over what you really want in your life.

My message to moms who hate to say no, can’t say no, and are stressed because they can’t say no, is to consider my 10 tips from Mary Poppins before saying yes.

The result is living a prosperous life in every sense of the word … health, wealth, love and freedom.

Now that’s supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

To read part one of this series by Karen Keller, click “10 Things Mary Poppins Can Teach You About Saying ‘No!’ and Meaning It!”

Don’t forget the MomstoWork No song at YouTube. It’s silly but we loved singing, ” No, no, no, no and no!”

About the Author: Karen Keller, Ph. D. is the Influence It! Life Coach and creator of Real Power For Women Who Want It. Her first book, with Deepak Chopra, Jack Canfield, and Denis Waitley comes out 2010.

Follow Karen on Twitter @KarenKeller or on Facebook.com/karenkeller

Filed Under: Working Moms Resources