YES! There are many times in my life where I wanted to say no when the right response from me is to consider saying yes. And this situation happened to me just over the weekend.
I was still full from breakfast. So I told myself, I will take a light lunch. Nothing heavy.
But when I stepped into the Holland Drive Food Centre, the unmistakable smell of claypot rice immediately hit me. I knew exactly where it was coming from.
New Lucky Claypot Rice! #02-19.
And THERE WAS NO QUEUE!
The wait would be under 30 minutes for rice grains to become gorgeously delicious claypot rice.
So I turned to both my daughter and son and asked them, “shall we?” And before they could answer, it was a done deal. I had placed the order and the clock had started.
And it did not disappoint! 20 minutes later, we were tucking into utterly super tender chicken umami smoky claypot rice. Burnt bits and all!
Any regrets that I deviated from my lunch plans?
Absolutely not!
It was a GREAT decision!
We had a really really good time! Everyone loved the claypot rice. No one minded deviating from our original plans. And we were already making plans to come back again … just at the right time … no queue … and under 30 minutes wait.
Moral of the story for me?
When there’s a great claypot rice with no queue and under 30 minutes wait, SAY YES! Hungry or not!
LOL!
Sometimes, saying YES to good things even if you did not planned for it or not know what to do is perhaps the best thing you could have done.
Why?
Because opportunity favors those that say YES!
Said YES
I have said YES more times than you can count on things I have not been prepared for.
I said YES to a client’s request that I have never done before. That was 10 years ago. And that YES birthed the many good things we are doing really well today at StrengthsAsia.
I said YES to becoming a coach in 2010 even though I have never been coached before. It was just a “wow” moment about coaching that grabbed my heart there and then. Today, coaching is at the core of many things I do and I love it!
I said YES to running a StrengthsFinder workshop in Mandarin in 2016 even though I only had ground level kindergarten basic Mandarin at that time. Today, I am running workshops in Mandarin! Now, who would have believed me? I wouldn’t have believed myself!
Say YES
So this is my claypot rice motivation …
… when a good opportunity is happening before you, and you have not planned for it or you may not know what to do about it, well, before you say no the next time, consider saying YES.
Because the YES could possibly be the best thing you could be doing for yourself.
It may change your life. Forever.
Kim Pong is the CEO and Founder of StrengthsAsia, Creator of the REFRAME MasterClass and the first 20 Gallup Certified Strengths Coaches in the world. He is based in Singapore and works with organizations in Asia in creating an engaged workplace culture for leaders, managers and executives to thrive.