Lately I’ve been asking myself, “WHY?” Why is it important to me to say yes 1,000 times over the next 12 months? Just what am I setting out to prove?

As a college professor, testing theories is familiar territory for me. So I think it’s important to develop a Theory of Yes to help guide this whole process. That way I’ll know if it’s been a success at the end.

So as a result, I’ve developed The Theory of Yes.

In these very early stages of this social experiment, I’ve developed the following Theory of Yes:

* The more I say yes to life, the more I will get out of life

* The greater the risk of saying yes, the greater the reward

* The more I say yes to unfamiliar situations, the more I’ll learn to grow and stretch as a human being

* Saying yes always means saying no to something else

* Saying no always means saying yes to something else

* It’s important to say the “best yes” when I have more than one option in front of me; after all, I can’t say “yes” to everything

I imagine that as this process unfolds, I’ll be amending this theory from time to time, so stay tuned!

Time to start testing the theory…

YES #4 – Yes, I will agree to allow my 13-year-old daughter to go on a late night coffee house date with some of her close friends. It’s actually the latest I’ve allowed her to stay out (aside from sleepovers), but I reason she’ll be well-supervised by two or more parents, and the kids she’s with are all good kids.

YES #5 – Yes, I will agree to purchase four (count them FOUR) new Alex Rider books for my son, the voracious reader. First, they’re on sale (YES!). Second, my 11-year-old son wants to READ for FUN. Enough said.

YES #6 – Yes, I will watch “Gilmour Girls” with my daughter, despite the fact that the laundry is piling up downstairs. She leaves on a three-day camping trip in a couple of days, and I know I’ll miss her then. Watching the “Gilmour Girls” together on Netflix is our thing. I’ll be she wishes I was a cool mom like Lorelai Gilmour. Sadly, my CQ (cool quotient) is severely lacking.