The Power of NO: Reclaiming Your Rhythm for 2025

Feeling off rhythm, overwhelmed, or stuck in the cycle of busyness? In this episode, Jill is kicking off the year with a powerful shift—learning the power of NO and how slowing down can actually move you forward. 

Jill shares a personal lessons from her own journey, why obedience became her word for 2025, and how setting clear values can transform your daily life. 

Plus, an invitation to an incredible opportunity—the 8:28 Retreat—designed to help high-achieving women rest, recharge, and realign with what truly matters.

If you’re ready to stop running on empty and start living with intention, this episode is for you! 

Discover Your Purpose at The 8:28 Retreat.

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Grab a copy of Jill's Co-Author Best Seller Book- Intuitive Goddess by Jill O'Boyle

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Transcript

Jill O'Boyle (00:03.672)
Well, hey, friends, welcome back to your life, your story rise up. I'm your host, Jill O'Boyle. Hey, I am so excited to be back with you. As you probably noticed, I took some intentional time in January just to refocus. I really wanted to think through some of the topics for this year, some of the guests that I'm going to have on the show and just the stories that I'm going to bring to the table. And I have to say,

I'm excited about what's ahead. I have some amazing stories coming up. And so be sure that you are sticking around. Be sure if you haven't already, don't forget to hit the subscribe button so that you never miss an upcoming episode. So initially I plan to kick off the year with one of my first guests of this year. But as I was preparing for a keynote that I'm going to be delivering next month for a corporate group,

I felt strongly that some of the content in my message, in my keynote that I'm preparing for them is also a message that you might need to hear as well. And so honestly, some of it is probably some things that you may have already heard me talk about on this podcast, but we're human and we're busy individuals. And I think we all need reminders from time to time, especially kicking off a new year, right?

And so with the new year ahead, I know it's not uncommon for most people to start their year with a new year's resolution, right? So you're kicking off 2025, you started it with a new year's resolution. Typically, many of them are, I'm gonna exercise more, I'm gonna eat healthier, I'm gonna lose weight, I'm gonna get more sleep, maybe I'm gonna drink less alcohol this year, maybe I'm gonna finally,

Stop spending so much and I'm gonna pay off my debt Maybe for you. It's you're be more present with your family, right? I feel like those are some Common ones that I hear from most people and while those are all great resolutions I see one simple shift that could help with every single one of them and that is simply to slow down

Jill O'Boyle (02:27.872)
and learn one small but very powerful word, no.

Jill O'Boyle (02:36.374)
No. Let me tell you, there is power in the word no. We live in a world that just glorifies the hustle. Like the busier we are, the more valuable we feel. We're constantly trying to do more. We're trying to be more. We're trying to achieve more. But what if I told you that constantly saying yes is the very thing keeping you from your best life?

and it's keeping you stuck in overload. It's keeping you stuck in this overwhelmed state all the time. Because when you say yes to everything and everyone, you're also saying no to yourself. You're saying no to your own wellbeing. You're saying no to your purpose. Because when we're always running, when we're always saying yes, when we're always never slowing down,

We are just running on empty. We're running on fumes. Actually, let's be real, our gas light is like screaming at us. It's blinking orange and big and bold. But you know we're not stopping.

We're gonna keep pushing, right? We need to stop and get refueled, but we're gonna keep pushing that car. We're gonna keep going as far as we can go before we finally have to stop. Like, come on. I know I'm not just talking to myself here. There's someone else listening that has that same hatred of just stopping to get gas. Am I right? It's just such an inconvenience, right? We gotta slow down to refuel. my gosh.

But don't we need to do that in our own life?

Jill O'Boyle (04:18.926)
We wanna keep going, but we have to slow down. We have to make an intentional stop to refuel ourselves. And so what if I told you that your transformation doesn't happen by constantly adding more to your plate, by achieving more, but actually it happens by learning to say this word, no.

No to over committing, no to filling every spare moment with busyness, no to the idea that rest is unproductive. Rest is productive, just if you didn't know. No to the habits that drain us instead of filling us. And so no is really just not about setting boundaries with other people, it's about setting boundaries with ourselves, right? It's about recognizing like when we're operating,

out of alignment when we're pushing ourselves to that exhaustion when we're moving at a pace that just isn't sustainable anymore. We have to be able to recognize before we completely hit burnout. We have to be able to say, okay, I have reached my limit. I am overloaded, I'm overwhelmed. I need to pause. I need to learn how to say no. So let me tell you a story about

this past year. So my word for 2024 was Intentionality. Being intentional in everything I do. And what I discovered with that word that I chose was that God wanted to use it to teach me a lesson. And so one of the biggest lessons that God taught me in 2024 was patience in the waiting.

Like he slowed me down from my natural high achiever, natural ability of tendency to want to just rush ahead, natural tendency to want to fix, to control, to force things to happen in Jill's time, my timeline. And instead he invited me into a season of trust. Being intentional and waiting.

Jill O'Boyle (06:38.445)
waiting.

Something about that word, right? And man, let me tell you, there were moments when I wanted to push forward. I wanted to make things work. I wanted to grasp the opportunities that weren't really fully aligned with my values, weren't aligned with where I knew God was calling me, but I wanted to just go ahead and do it in my own way. Anybody ever feel like that sometimes? Like you just want to do it your own way, but there's just some resistance there.

exactly what kept happening like every time I tried to move ahead move ahead in my own strength I found resistance frustrating yep

super frustrating until I realized.

maybe the resistance was actually God's protection.

Jill O'Boyle (07:28.888)
Like maybe, maybe God was asking me to wait because the best was still being prepared. somebody needed to hear that, right? Maybe he's asking you to wait because the best is still being prepared.

in the busyness of our world, it is so not natural for us to want to wait.

Right? Our world is so full of hustle. It's so full of get it now, buy it now, have it now, keep up with the Joneses. Like we need this instant gratification all the time.

But believe me when I say, if God is asking you to wait, something better is up ahead. There is always purpose in the waiting. There is always purpose in the waiting. I can go on from story after story after story of how I know that to be true. Does it make it easier? No, absolutely doesn't. But what God really wants us to do is have

faith in him to trust him in that waiting. And so that's gonna bring me to my word for this year. My word for 2025 is obedience. So this year I'm making a commitment. Like if God says go, I go. Like without over analyzing it, without my controlling nature, without my second guessing, without questioning whether I feel like I'm ready or not. If God says go, go. And if God says wait, I wait.

Jill O'Boyle (09:06.926)
without pushing forward, without forcing things to happen, without trying to take control. And so obedience isn't always easy, right? Sometimes it's gonna feel really uncomfortable. Sometimes the things that God tells you to do is gonna feel like I'm not equipped for that. But you are. He wouldn't ask you to do it if he hadn't already equipped you for it.

And so sometimes it challenges our natural thinking. Sometimes it's gonna challenge our natural tendencies of what we feel like we should do. But I truly believe that when we walk in obedience, we find alignment, we find peace, and we find that rhythm that he designed us for, that he created us for.

the rhythm that we were created for. What does that mean when I say that? I'm so glad you asked because I had to ask the same thing when I first heard it. So I was recently listening to an awesome pastor that I follow on YouTube and he said, we must get back in touch with our life rhythm. And probably just like you, I responded with, what the heck does that mean? Life rhythm?

So here you go. Life rhythm is defined as the flow of your life, the routines, the habits, the obligations, events, and the distance between them.

So many of us are falling into this hustle mindset, we're falling into burnout because we're simply operating off rhythm. Like we're moving at a speed that we just are not designed for. We are not meant to be runners. We are not meant to be running all the time at a high speed.

Jill O'Boyle (11:05.804)
And so we're running on empty and we're wondering why we feel so exhausted, so stretched, so disconnected.

Jill O'Boyle (11:16.408)
So what if we chose a different pace? What if we went against what the world says we should be doing? And what if we embraced rest as a strategy, not a weakness?

Rest as productivity, not failing.

Like what if we learn to say no to the things that don't serve us so that we could actually say yes to what matters? We could say yes to what things that like actually bring us joy and fill us versus feeling obligated to always say yes, falling in that trap of people pleasing and saying yes to all the things and then being like, why did I say yes to all these things? Start saying yes to things that you're aligned with. Start saying yes to things that truly matter.

In order to do that, you really need to know your values. You need to know what you stand for. I always say, you don't stand for anything, you will fall for everything, right? So what are those values to make your yes, yes, and your no's, no's?

And what if we trusted that slowing down doesn't mean that you're falling behind, but actually slowing down allows you to move forward with more clarity, with more purpose.

Jill O'Boyle (12:42.198)
And so as you, as we are off to a new year, it's February, but still new, right? And as you think about, you know, what were some goals that you thought you wanted to achieve in 2025? I want to challenge you that maybe instead of just adding more resolutions, adding more goals to your list, why don't you consider this? Why don't you consider, what do you need to say no to this year?

What distractions, what habits, mindsets are keeping you stuck in a cycle of exhaustion?

Jill O'Boyle (13:25.23)
And maybe more importantly, what would it look like to step into obedience this year?

to trust that when God says go, you go. And when he says wait, you wait.

Jill O'Boyle (13:44.846)
So if you're listening to this and you're feeling off rhythm, like life is running you instead of just you running your life.

or opening your heart to let God run your life. Like I wanna invite you to something special. I am hosting the 828 retreat. This is a faith-based experience. It's designed to help high achieving women just like you rest, recharge, reconnect with your purpose. And so this retreat is happening on Saturday, March 1st. And it's for women who are constantly giving.

Right, I relate to you so much. We want to give, we love to just contribute to others and that is a great gift that you have with balance. Right, so this is for the woman who is constantly giving but you're never filling your own cup up. And so it's for the woman who wants to step into a more intentional way of living, free from that burnout, free from that overwhelm, free from overload.

And it's a day to say no to everyone else and finally, finally say yes to you. And so it's a day for you to take a much, much needed pause. And so together what we're gonna do is we're gonna step back, we're gonna take time to redefine honestly what truly matters to you. And we're gonna help you to create a vision that aligns with God's calling on your life. We're gonna uncover the things that bring you joy, the things that you're naturally gifted in.

and start to weave in and understand God's purpose and calling on your life. And so if this is speaking to you, please, please, please say yes to you. One day, nine to two, that you can take time for yourself to pause, to break free from that hustle. And so I would love for you to join us. You can find all the details in the show notes below, or you can visit my website at jillaboil.com and click on 828 retreat.

Jill O'Boyle (15:53.718)
Okay, that's happening on Saturday, March 1st in McCordsville, Indiana. It will be in-person retreat. Okay, friends, well, I hope that you say yes to you in 2025. I hope that you start saying yes to the things that truly matter in your life, that are aligned with your purpose, with your values. I promise when you do, you will find that you will start walking in a new intentional way.

So thank you for being here. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for being willing to do the work to live a more intentional and purpose-driven life. People that come onto this podcast and are taking time to listen, I just truly respect you. I thank you that it shows to me that you're wanting to embrace a life of more intention, a life of purpose. And so thank you for following the show. If today's episode resonated with you, I'd love to hear that. I love hearing from all of you. So send me messages.

share it with a friend and just let's just continue rising up continuing this journey together. Okay. So until next time, keep rising up, keep being you keep loving life and keep saying yes to what matters most. Okay. I'll see you in the next episode. Bye bye.