#SoG105 - Say No!
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SoG 105 - Say No!
On one of the projects that I work on, I worked with this intern, Karan.
He is a 22-year-old boy and comes from a relatively well to do family. He is exactly the kinds that you would call privileged. Enough money to have a fancy iPhone, a car to himself, enough money in the pocket to not worry about the restaurant he is hanging out at and more than enough in the family to not save. Plus his family has an established business that will go on forever. So he has no hurry to find a thing that he would call his life's work. And he is smart enough to know his place in the world and yet bold enough to have aspirations that go beyond what he has and what he knows. And there is more. No one person can get described in a paragraph.
So, why do I talk about him?
Because I am at a Starbucks, waiting for a meeting to start.
And while I am idle, am thinking about all the meetings I've had at Starbucks outlets. And most of these meetings seem to have the same contours - we come together, order a coffee (or a dessert or something), sit for a bit (typically an hour), finish the business and go our separate ways.
But not the ones with Karan.
He would ALWAYS say no to anything or everything that I would offer him.
Except for water.
And he, of course, felt at home at Starbucks, he is a rich kid. Privileged.
Once I asked him why would he say no to coffee and all that.
He said that he wants to be healthy and anything that does not add up, he would say no. He would eat at home, pack his food when on the road and all that. Of course, he does enjoy an occasional night out but that are few and far between.
He would say no even if he were hungry or tired or we were meeting at 7 AM or at midnight.
He would always say no.
Always.
No.
I think there's a lesson there.
If a 22-year old can choose between the good and the bad, how the f are we to not say no to things that harm us?
Get the drift?
Next time when you have an option to say no (and not ordering a beverage that has sugar and milk and other crap in it), say no.
Remember, take the .
That's it for the day. See you on the other side.
And no, this is not the only piece that I have to share about the importance of saying no.
This is after all one of the key themes in life. Others being persistence, long-term thinking, compounding et al.
Thanks,
@saurabh
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P.S.: The meeting at Starbucks where I wrote this? I ordered just a bottle of water.
Tags: Choice, People, Fitness, Youth, No.