Success creates opportunities, but not all of them are right for you. In episode #1202 of The BIGG Success Show, learn a simple framework to decide what deserves your yes.
[George] One of my earliest businesses was a construction business. We found two houses that we planned to buy, remodel, and sell. (“Flipping” wasn’t a popular term back then.) The seller was facing a significant cash flow squeeze, due to over-expansion.
We completed the acquisition of the two properties. But then, another opportunity presented itself. It was a vacant lot that we could build a speculative (“spec”) house on. So, instead of building a house for a specific customer, we built the house and then looked for a buyer.
My initial instinct was to pass on the spec house. But I’m not a “pass” kind of guy. Besides, all three properties made me feel like saying “No” would mean missing out on an opportunity to make more profit. So I said, “Yes”.
At first, it felt energizing. Productive. Successful even.
https://biggsuccess.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/How-to-Know-Which-Opportunities-to-Say-No-To.png430448George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Fosterhttps://biggsuccess.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/BIGG-Success-Nurturing-Your-Inner-Entreprener.jpgGeorge Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster2026-06-02 08:38:332026-06-10 17:21:37Knowing When to Say No to Opportunities
The disruptions caused by COVID-19 have many of us reflecting on our lives, and looking to set priorities with purpose that will carry though post-pandemic.
George has a new word for pandemic, and we think you’ll really like it. Click the player to hear it right away on The BIGG Success Show. Here’s a summary of the discussion…
The pandemic made us realize just how resilient we are. It also made us face many things:
The fragility of life
Uncertainty in our jobs and finances
Loss of time with loved ones
Our fears
These difficult times also made us reevaluate what is most important.
Our show today is inspired by a quote from Daryl Van Tongeren, an associate professor of psychology at Hope College in Michigan. He said,
Bigg Success is life on your own terms. Today, we want to focus on time – one of the five elements of bigg success.
For bigg goal-getters, there never seems to be enough time in the day. Yet we all have 24 hours … 1,440 minutes … 86,400 seconds in the day.
Sometimes it’s helpful to look at things through a different lens. Let’s make these units of time more tangible by thinking about them as units of inventory.
Think about a grocery store. More specifically, think about the produce area of the grocery store. Can you see the apples, the lettuce, and the broccoli? Oh, and there’s the bananas!
Our grocers have to sell these things before they go bad. Otherwise, they aren’t worth anything. Unlike canned goods, produce has a very limited shelf life.
So it is with our time. We all have 86,400 seconds as an asset at the beginning of every day. But this second is gone. Now this one. The seconds turn into minutes; the minutes into hours.
When you look back on your day, did you get the most out of every hour?
“I don’t have time”
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Our friend, Lisa Cree, said something profound to me a while back. She said, “’I don't have time’ is a statement of priority, not fact.” If something is important to you, then you make it a priority and you do have time for it.
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We always hesitate to recommend this, but if you really feel like you don’t have time for those things that are really important to you, keep a journal for a week or maybe even a month. It’s a bit tedious but it will be worthwhile.
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To make the best use of your time, ask yourself these three questions:
Have you set your direction? You have to know where you’re going to use your time effectively by doing the right things.
Are you working efficiently? Do you use technology enough (or too much) to get things done expeditiously. Are there tasks you perform yourself which could easily be done by someone else? We have more options for outsourcing, both in our businesses and at home, today than ever before. Are you capitalizing on them?
Are you focused enough? As a bigg goal-getter, you may like to have a “lot on your plate.” But here’s a really important principle to understand:
If you try to accomplish too much, you risk accomplishing nothing!
Bigg success is life on your own terms. We’ve discussed before that one of the meanings of the word “terms” in our definition is phases. During any term (e.g. a year), focus on two or three major objectives. Break that down into quarters or months. Then you’ll know what you need to accomplish every day and every week.
Here’s another bigg secret: You’ll get where you want to be faster if those two or three objectives work in synergy – the bigg idea behind bigg success – rather than having two or three completely different things.
Focus on doing a few of the right things the right way so you reach bigg success faster!
Thanks so much for the gift of your time today. Please join us next time when we’ll discuss little things that make bigg differences. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!
You know they could be a bigg success, but they just can’t stay focused. They start a project but then something else captures their attention. Kind of like the interruption we just had with the song.
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