Staring Down ‘No’ (and Reveling in ‘Yes’)

As part of my desire to stay sharp and key in to living as best I can, I like to occasionally take classes or workshops as a sort of tune-up. After all, I’m a life coach and I owe it to my clients to keep my own house in order, so to speak, while shepherding them through their own challenges.

When I read that Sheri Salata, an entrepreneur I’d met back when she was president of HARPO/OWN, was leading a five-day workshop called Write Your New Story 2021, I knew it was the perfect way to set a fresh tone for the year.

Each day last week (it was afternoons for me in the Northeast) we’d meet for an hour and later post our short writing assignments on a private Facebook page. I was one of thousands, so I got right away that my own focus and transparency would enhance my experience in such a large pool of participants.

I had a handful of takeaways from the workshop, but I’m here to share one. The assignment was to answer these questions:

What No’s have you experienced in your life? What opportunities have come out of those No’s?

These are the kinds of probing inquiries I like to give my clients and students in writing prompt classes. They seem simple, but if you give them some real thought, surprises often surface.