Saying Yes to the Right Things: A Leadership Practice for Women Who Carry Too Much
There is a moment in leadership when you look at your life and realize the weight you are carrying is not even yours.
You said yes out of habit.
Yes out of survival.
Yes because you were taught that strength means carrying everything without question.
But leadership demands a different kind of honesty.
Most of the weight women carry is tied to things that never required their yes.
Invisible assignments.
Emotional labor.
Inherited expectations.
Roles we absorbed simply because someone needed to fill the gap.
Decision fatigue affects clarity, emotional wellbeing, and leadership effectiveness (Stanford University, 2019). Yet many women ignore the subtle truth that drains them the most.
The unexamined yes.
You do not build a powerful life by saying yes to everything. You build it by saying yes with intention.
There is a question I return to often.
Where have I been giving my yes too cheaply.
Because your next season is often waiting on one boundary you have not given yourself permission to set. The kind of boundary that protects your clarity, your calling, and your energy.
Discernment is leadership.
And alignment is stewardship.
When you choose the right yes at the right time, your capacity expands.
Your mind quiets.
Your priorities sharpen.
Your leadership becomes honest again.
Say yes only where your purpose has room to breathe.
References
Stanford University, “Decision Fatigue Study,” https://news.stanford.edu/
