Spoiler alert:

• The word “yes” leads to happiness.
• The word “no” leads to success.

Here’s why: http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/01/success-and-happiness/

“Yes” creates opportunity:

Saying yes a lot makes more things happen.

And research shows that lots of little good things are the path to happiness. Spending money on many little pleasures beats rare big positives.

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Research shows that making more opportunities — saying yes — actually makes you luckier.

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As we get older we remember the good and forget the bad. So more stuff makes for happier memories.

Read more: http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/01/success-and-happiness/

“No” creates focus:

I talked about this in my post about what the most successful people have in common. 

Warren Buffett once said:

The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say “no” to almost everything.

Read more: http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/01/success-and-happiness/

So how do you say yes and no?

It all starts with “protected time” for your important work.

Make a few of your prime hours inviolate. Anything threatening them gets a “no.” Period.

Charlie Munger always kept one prime hour for his personal priorities.

For the vast majority of people this means waking up long before your first outside commitments begin.

You’re not that much of a time management ninja? No problem.

Focus on protected days instead of protected hours.

Adam Grant has days where the door is closed, the answer is no, and important work gets done.

Other days are designated for new initiatives, helping others, and the answer is yes, yes, yes.

There’s a level of trial and error to see what works for you personally but this type of deliberate split is the first step to work/life balance.

Read more: http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/01/success-and-happiness/