Are You In Control?

When I think back on my life, I can see that a part of me was always giving away my time to others, and in a lot of cases it was a complete waste of time.

I’d go out of my way to please people by doing odd jobs here and there and not once did I have the heart to say "no". I was trading my valuable time for the reward of having that person like me. It all added to my feelings of inadequacy.

Bill Cosby once said: "I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody".

I didn’t understand those words until I was well into my 30’s when I realised that I was being taken advantage of. Everyone knew that I’d always answer "yes" if I was asked to do something. Once I realised what was happening I decided that I would, in the future only do things that I wanted to do.

It’s amazing what happens when you start saying "no". Some people you thought were friends were suddenly nowhere to be found. Talk about feeling used! I soon found out who my real friends were.

Think about it the next time you are asked to do a task for someone. Are you willing to give up your time for someone else? What will you get out of it? Are you being taken advantage of?

When you can answer these questions honestly, you are in the process of controlling your own life.