Oprah Super Soul 100 contributor Danielle LaPorte on how to stop overcommitting: 'Saying no is a beautiful act of self-care'

Yahoo Life is launching a five-day “Stop Doing It! Challenge” with mental health advocate and Oprah Super Soul 100 contributor Danielle LaPorte on May 24. All week, LaPorte will share ideas about what you can stop doing right now so that more health, happiness and ease can come into your life. We will declutter the habits and the negative inner voice that can block our inner peace.

Video Transcript

DANIELLE LAPORTE: Hello, hello. I am Danielle LaPorte. I write about mental health and heart-centered living. I'm a member of Oprah's Super Soul 100, and I am inviting you to a five-day Stop Doing It Challenge. I'm going to help us get from this side of overworked, and overwhelmed, and under-resourced, to this side of some peace and some happiness.

Sometimes, success, or just some more inner peace, is not about what we start doing-- it's more about what we stop doing. So we're going to do this together. I have got you for the next five days, and we are going to declutter the habits and the negative inner talk that block us from health and happiness. So you're ready to start? Ready to start stop doing? Let's go.

All right, we are on day one of the Stop Doing It Challenge. And today we are talking about when you say yes, when really, really inside, you want to say no, thank you.

Being busy is actually not a badge of honor. It's a recipe for burnout. What happens to most of us is when we get where we thought we wanted to go, we're too tired to enjoy what we got.

Why do we overcommit? It's a really simple primal reason. Most of us are obsessed with being liked-- more specifically, obsessed with being disliked. So we say yes, when really inside, we want to bow out. You can love everyone, but you can't please everyone. The profound beautiful thing-- this is the whole point of this stop doing action-- is that saying no is a beautiful act of self care.

So here's the call for all of us this week-- when you feel compelled and pulled-- we all know that inner rub-- when you want to say no, when you say yes, here's how you can very gracefully decline.

You can say, it just doesn't feel right. And I can almost guarantee you-- most people are not going to argue with how you feel. You can say, maybe in the future. You can say, the timing's not right for me. My plate is full, and I'm really committed to taking care of myself.

And here's what's going to happen-- the more you say no, thank you, when you really mean no, thank you, the more that things will come into your life that you want to say a full-hearted yes to. And guess what? You will inspire other people to do the same for themselves.

Tomorrow, meet me right back here. We're going to have another idea for your stop doing list.