Balance.

It’s a word seen frequently in inspirational social media posts and in motivational speeches, but I’m not sure if we as small business owners, as women, understand how much it is an absolute necessity for our lives and our businesses.

The idea of balance and actually living it are two totally different things, the former being much easier than the latter. When you teach full time, own a small business, run a wedding blog, and have a husband and household to take care of, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the tasks and expectations! Over the last several months, I have tried some deliberate and intentional ways to restore some balance back to my life. I’m going to be sharing them with you over the next ten weeks in a series called “10 Secrets to Balance.”

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Saying No. 

Y’all. I am a “Yes” girl. I have a hard time saying “no” to anything, for several reasons, the first of which being because I’m terrified of missing out. I fear saying “no” means missing out on something that could potentially be life changing.

I recently read an excerpt from a book that said, “saying “No” to something gives you an opportunity to say “Yes” to something more important.”

For example, saying “No” to social media so you can say “Yes” to more important business tasks.

Saying “no” to the dishes so you can say “yes” to watching an episode of your favorite show with your husband.

Saying “no” to a full inbox so you can say “yes” to a coffee date with a fellow creative.

Y’all, I’m just going to say the hard thing in case no one has ever told you before…

If you’re going to have peace in your life, you’re going to have to put this word back into your vocabulary. 

If you want to serve your clients well, you can’t accept every inquiry. If you’re going to have a healthy marriage, you can’t say “yes” to working until midnight every night while your husband sits alone on the couch. If you’re going to have this sort of balance in your life, you can’t say “yes” to every invitation and fill your schedule with unending tasks.

Balance means prioritizing, so take a few minutes to really consider what is most important to you and what you might have to say “no” to so you can say “yes” to the things that matter most!

“You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage-pleasantly, smilingly, unapologetically, to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside.” -Steve Covey