By Scott Nichols

The hardest thing that I face every day is having the ability to say the word “no”! I struggle with this because if I feel I can help someone, I want to help them. It’s not until after the fact that I realize the time and commitment it might take. At this point it’s too late. Usually when I say yes, my calendar fills up fast and my stress level goes through the roof! It doesn’t help when my wife tells me how I create my own problems – she’s right.

I want to share with you a few items that have caused me stress. This is my life from the last six months to present: I coach both of my kids competitively in soccer. I have practices four nights a week and games on the weekend that require travel across the state. I was on the soccer board but resigned, and I will discuss the reasoning later in the article. I decided to help my kid’s school district with a referendum (which usually goes against my personal and political beliefs). Lastly, on top of it all, running and owning a business! Oh, wait there’s one more item: a monthly column for Smart Tan Magazine (to be honest, it’s actually one of my stress relievers!).

I get myself into binds all the time. My weeks fly by and weekends even faster. It feels like yesterday was slow season and last month was busy season. Some days my mind is on work while I am coaching soccer and other days it’s vice versa. Some days I feel like giving up and other days I feel like taking a nap! I think you understand my point and some of you can relate. Others might be asking why I do this all, and I can tell you that is a great question. I don’t think I have a simple answer for you, but I hope to at least answer how I try to do it.

I want to share with you three small but very important things I have learned. I have attached real life examples to these. My goal is to help you, and the best way I can do this is by using examples of what I have gone through. So here you go!

Click here to read the entire article in the latest issue of Smart Tan Magazine online.