What Happens When You Say Yes?

I’m a big Ted Lasso fan.

Maybe it’s because I love team sports. Maybe it’s because I appreciate a good mustache. But more than anything, I love the perspective the show brings to what it means to be part of a team.

Because life is a team sport.

Work is a team sport. Family is a team sport. Community is a team sport. And sometimes, being a good teammate means being willing to open yourself up to something unexpected.

Recently, I watched an episode where one of the assistant coaches decides she needs to start saying yes more often. She hears the idea on a podcast, walks into work, and starts saying yes to just about everything.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

And you can immediately see how those yeses begin changing the shape of her conversations and experiences.

It reminded me of one of the fundamental rules of improv: “Yes, and.”

In improv, “yes” accepts what someone else has brought into the scene. The “and” builds on it. Instead of shutting down the possibility, you add something to it.

What would happen if we brought a little more of that into our everyday lives?

My “Yes, And” Moment

This week, my friend and fellow Cadre contributor Brittany posted on Instagram asking if anyone wanted to run the Loppet Trail Half Marathon with her.

Now, I had just watched that episode.

So naturally, I said yes.

And Brittany’s response was essentially, “Wait… what?”

Apparently, part of her was hoping nobody would say yes so she wouldn’t actually have to run 13 miles through the woods.

But I did.

So shortly after sharing this message with the Cadre community, I was heading out to run 13 miles on a trail, in the rain, with a friend.

And you know what?

We didn’t need to know exactly how it was going to go.

Maybe we’d run the whole thing. Maybe we’d walk part of it. Maybe we’d simply do what we could.

The important part was that we were going to make a memory because we said yes.

Where Could You Say Yes?

That’s my invitation for you today.

Find one place in your life where your instinct might normally be to shut the door, and instead, leave it cracked open.

Maybe it sounds like:

“Yeah, okay. Let’s try it.”

Maybe it’s:

“Yes, let’s talk about that.”

Or maybe your yes needs a boundary:

“Yes, but we’re going to have to do it differently.”

And sometimes, the most important yes is the one you give yourself:

“Yes, the world may tell me I’m not supposed to do this, or that I can’t. But I want to, so I’m going to try.”

Saying yes doesn’t mean abandoning your boundaries or agreeing to everything that comes your way. It means noticing the moments when fear, habit, uncertainty, or comfort might be making the decision for you.

Sometimes a yes becomes a conversation.

Sometimes it becomes 13 miles through the woods in the rain.

And sometimes it becomes a memory you never would have made otherwise.

So wherever you are today, find a place where you can say yes, and…

Then see where the trail takes you.

And if today isn’t a good day? That’s okay, too.

We’ll see you tomorrow.

JC Lippold
Cadre Contributor