But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I was indeed using the "Qualified Yes" more as I became able to effectively say "No"...both personally and professionally. I think you really have to be comfortable saying no before you can even venture into the gray area.

And "Maybe" doesn't cut it...it's so damn slippery. Perhaps it's just semantics, but a "Yes, BUT" can immediately establish boundaries, and make things more clear for everything involved.

I found this invaluable after I left CoachVille and I started to take on a number of clients at once. Within about six weeks, I found myself with more requests for work than I could immediately handle. I was paranoid about saying no, but I was even more paranoid about saying "Yes, but it will be x weeks before I can start."

But I did it. And I found that most people still wanted to work with me. I like that.

Mail DMZ update: This morning my inbox has three (3) items in it. Out of the 40 or so new emails I got this morning when I booted up, 5 were filtered into their appropriate folders. (Sam likes to call it the "Bozo Filter" but I think that really only applies to his folder.) The other 35 were acted on in some fashion, and either filed or deleted.

The DMZ folder itself is also down slightly, to 2740. I didn't have much time to slog through this after posting last night, but I'd like to take it down by at least 100 each day.

Baby steps...just have to keep reminding myself.