Which Type of Person Are You?

Are you predominantly a “Yes” person or a “NO” person?  Are you primarily a “Yes” parent or a “No” parent?  Are you that employee at the company that everyone knows, will always know why something new will not work?  Are you the “Yes” in your marriage or are you the constant NO in the relationship?  A friend once said, “To me, there is always a cloud behind every silver lining!”  He was a glass half-empty friend-could you tell? 

I have heard all of the support and need for having NO people in every crowd for balance.  The challenge is NO people often live under a cloud of chronic oppression that infects everyone.  The “No” tendency will never let them see the value of YES.  Businesses are driven by “Yes People.” Communities are driven by Yes people.  In fact our community can be spelled in one of two ways.  We either live in Can’t-on, or we live in Can-ton.  The first spelling indicates we can’t do much more than we are doing. The second (Con-Ton) says “Yes we can” accomplish a ton together.  Churches, family’s, businesses, sports teams, marriages all have options.  A doctor I knew once shared the following, “We allow all of our employees from our secretary’s, to our nurses, to our support staff, to  tell any patient that “there will be no charge for our services today”.   What a cool place to work.   Look at the positives of becoming a “Yes” person.

1)        “Yes” people are unlimited in their creativity and creative people make an organization special.

2)       “Yes” people are pleasant to be around because they seldom shut you down when you share your dreams.

3)       “Yes” people know that failure is a real option but given the freedom to fail also give a great potential for success.

4)       “Yes” people generally are attracted to each other.  “NO” people are also attracted to one another.  If you often find yourself saying, “Everyone has talked to me, and…”  chances are you have no really talked to everyone, you have just surrounded yourself with people like you. 

5)       Becoming a “Yes we can” person is habit forming.  Try saying yes as often as you can.  It will become a great positive habit that is contagious and momentum building for you, your family, and your organization.

6)       Life gets a lot easier and more enjoyable when we do all we can to say “Yes”.  “Yes” to our family, our employees, our volunteers, our company, our church and ourselves.  Simply put, “Yes” people are optimistic, creative, and game changers.  “Yes” people don’t always have to say yes immediately.  Sometimes it is, I”ll think about it.  Sometimes, I’ll pray about it.  But “Yes” people avoid the instant “No” in their lives.

7)       On a side note, we have to learn to say “Yes” in life.  It is not something we do naturally. Hanging around children through the years I have notice something about two year olds.  Their favorite word is ___.  I’ll let you fill in the blank.  As our faith grows so does our “Yes”.

The truth is, God is the greatest “Yes” we can ever embrace.  The Bible says, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”  Philippians 4:13.  You will never regret saying yes to the One who said yes to us through His death on the cross.  In Christ, our glass is never half empty, our “Cup runneth over”. (Psalm 23)

Dr. John Mark Robinson is the Pastor of CrossRoads Church in Canton, Texas and serves as Founder and President of Building Strong Lives Ministries.