The Time For Yes
Enjoying What’s Best in Life, Work, and Love
By Greg Cootsona
TEST- Branding experts say a good brand must be described in three words. Can you describe your personal “brand” in just three words? Begin by writing out every adjective, verb, or noun that you’d use to describe you. How do others describe you? Ask friends over coffee or through a Facebook message or email and ask for 5 to 10 words about you. Compare what you wrote about yourself with what others say about you. Then, narrow the total lists to just 3 descriptors. Think and meditate on those 3. Go back and revisit them in a day or a week.
GROOVE- Grooving is life at its best. It’s that moment when you’re feeling the rhythm of what you’re doing so deeply that you’re almost obligated to stay in it. We’ve all been there, doing something that seemed so effortless. Athletes call it being in the zone. We’ve all been in the zone. Being there is the result of hearing the yeses, testing them, and then finding the right rhythm of yes and no, of notes and spaces.
So, as we ponder a new year and all of the possibilities, perhaps now is the time to be intentional about our life in a different and deeper way, to discover our gifts and talents and what we do best, what we are built and designed to do. Then, to go out and discover all the ways we can use those gifts and talents to change ourselves and the world a bit.
It’s that time again. The time when we make new resolutions and evaluate where we are and where we want to be. Often these resolutions are about losing weight or gaining control of our finances, or making that trip we always dreamed of. But what about resolving to do something even bigger and to make even more important and permanent changes than that? What about resolving to find the ONE THING we were built to do, that ONE THING that just by doing it would bring us the greatest contentment and joy and might even change the world a little? Is that even possible? Greg Cootsona, author and pastor says in THE TIME FOR YES (December 1, 2012) that yes, indeed it is possible, and we should be diligent and resolute about finding our calling. Here’s why: Most of us are killing time, and doing things every day that we are not built to do and likely have no passion for. According to a survey conducted every year for almost 2 decades by The Gallup Organization, only 20 percent of us by our own admission get to do what we do best every day. That means eighty percent of us are slogging through each day, with the physical, mental, and spiritual toll that takes.
To find our yeses, Cootsona suggests that we:
LISTEN-Our calling engages our passions. When we arrive at a path that makes sense for us, there is an inner yes that resonates and energizes, and if we’re quiet enough, we can hear it. That path may have difficulties-but at the same time it’s not toilsome because it’s the right path. And just being there brings energy and creativity. There’s an inner drive that changes the world for the better.