“I’m so busy right now, but I just have to get through the next 2 weeks and things will slow down.”

This is what I said to my husband about 7 weeks ago.

His reply?

“We’ve been saying that for about 6 years.”

And he is totally right. Once I got through the event that was leading me to say things would calm down afterwards, I realized I had an out-of-town bridal shower weekend to help plan and attend. Then I rolled right into working morning, noon and night on the launch of my newest business offer and then followed that up by volunteering for the largest fundraiser of the year at my daughter’s preschool.

It is always busy.

As a working mom entrepreneur, a Mama CEO, I want to be able to volunteer in my kids’ classrooms and rock a successful business project all at the same time. I also want to spend time with my friends, my husband and take care of myself too. But sometimes, something has to give. You get to the point when there is SO much going on and so much to do, it is hard to even enjoy the fun things and not resent everything altogether.

I was chatting with a business friend about this idea that there is always more to do. She said something that really got me thinking. “What if you always defaulted to no?”

This is a hard concept for me. But I liked the sound of it.

Later, I was debating turning down a business opportunity that I wasn’t sure fully aligned with my brand and a friend said, “When you say no to something you leave room to say hell yes to something else.”

The signs were all there. Everyone was telling me it was time to start saying “no.”

So, I am declaring this month #NOvember. Who’s with me?

Let me step back and explain a bit more. This isn’t about shirking responsibilities or being unavailable to your loved ones, its just about taking a pause before agreeing to do everything that comes your way.

Its about taking a step back and making sure everything is aligned with not only what you want to be doing, but with the bigger picture of leading the life you want to lead. Being the kind of mom and business owner you want to be.

By embracing NOvember, you can live by the NOvember Manifesto.

The NOvember Manifesto:

1. You think about your Big Why – your business and family objectives before saying yes to anything.
2. You ask for what you need and make suggestions on how situations can work best for you, not always accommodate other’s requests.
3. You will feel good about saying yes, because they are the right opportunities.
4. You can feel less rushed when the items on your task list are all meant to be there.
5. You can feel good about the time you have to devote to different areas of your life.
6. You have space in your day to be spontaneous, take breaks and change plans
7. You set a good example for your children on how to take better care of themselves
8. You rediscover other things that you love like yoga, books and showering on a daily basis.
9. You benefit from an improved mood and lift the collective mood of those around you.
10. You leave doors open for amazing opportunities to come your way.

So, I invite you to embrace NOvember with me today. Here are a few ways to get started:

o Choose 3 events on your calendar that you can cancel or skip attending.
o Find 1 thing on your to do list that can be eliminated or delegated to someone else
o Send an email to your family/school parents/business associates and ask who can take on one of the projects (or steps) you were going to be responsible for.

And why not invite a friend to join you for NOvember, so you can have support and accountability in creating more time and space for the things that really are important to both of you! I’ll be sharing all month long things I am not doing with the hashtag #NOvember. I can’t wait to see what you are not doing this month too!