Marks and Spencer's study about living on autopilot found the average person in Britain makes 15 decisions a day without truly thinking about them.
It found that the autopilot reflex triggered negative habits like saying yes too often. Almost half of those surveyed said they were people pleasers.
Christian counsellor, Annie Cluley told Premier News Hour about why people find it hard to say no.
"We love pleasing people because often our identity and self-esteem rests on pleasing others," she said.
"We just love people thinking we're wonderful so we turn ourselves into pretzels trying to make people happy, which is very unhealthy."
The study also revealed the top ten things people say 'yes' to that they don't want to do.
1 Working late
2 To a social event we know we won't go to
3 Visiting people we don't get on with
4 Going for after work drinks
5 Giving into the kids for an easy life
6 Offering to look after someone else's kids or pets
7 Team-building days
8 Agreeing to give a speech
9 Going to a partner's work event
10 Going on holiday with extended family or friends
Cluely told Premier, 'people pleasing' is a dangerous trap into failure.
She said: "I think long-term we lose all sense of ourselves because we're turning ourselves inside out to say yes to everything.
"We are overloaded. We fail. We fail at ministry, management, parenting, partnerships, you name it".
Marks and Spencer offered advice for people-pleasers: "Start with a calendar cull. Review your diary every Sunday evening and identify and cancel any engagements which aren't necessary or you said yes to under pressure.
"And in the everyday, buy yourself time to say no by needing to check and see."
Cluley added that boundaries are vital to avoid getting burnt out.
"Make a few healthy boundaries and learn to say no.
"It's very powerful saying no because people start to respect you. If they think you're just a push over people do not respect you. They think 'good old him or good old her, I'll ask him because he never says no".
She continued: "Once you start saying no to things the other person has to change.
"You break the cycle, you break that pattern and you slowly walk the path of freedom and you're not in bondage anymore.
"And we have to stop worrying what people think about us when we say no. We can't fix everybody, but unless we say no and take responsibility for saying no, the other person asking will not change demanding of you. "
