1000 Nos

Sometimes you have to say "No" to 1,000 things to say "Yes" to the one thing that matters.

Three summers ago, my wife and I took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. It is now a nine-week course that helps people focus on getting out of debt, building wealth and giving generously. (We are offering it this fall through our congregation if you are interested.) The explicit strength of this program is the debt snowball and sticking to a monthly budget. The implicit strength of this program is what I like to call 1,000 Nos.

Last August we finished paying off all our debt and are now working toward building our 3-6 month emergency fund. We still do a monthly budget, pay cash for everything and say "No" a lot.

I still joke about the discipline of 1,000 Nos. I say "No" to a lot of things I want but cannot afford. Saying "No" over and over and over again is actually... quite freeing. Because over time it allows me to say "Yes" to a whole new set of things.

What things have you said "No" to lately to say "Yes" to the main thing? 

One of Rob Bell's Nooma videos, "Shells," also does a nice job with this topic.