The art of saying "NO" and lead your life with purpose.
Posted on August 07, 2021 by Marie-Louise Pereira, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.
Are you willing to regain energy and focus on what matters the most to you, and stop getting overwhelmed, exhausted, and frustrated?
Learn how.
The art of saying "no" and lead your life with purpose.
Are you willing to regain energy and focus on what matters the most to you, and stop getting overwhelmed, exhausted, and frustrated?
The single greatest way to improve your productivity and fulfill your needs is to say “no” more often.
If you respectfully say “no” to a one‐hour meeting, you magically create an hour to get your meaningful work done.
Why is it so hard to say “no”?
Since childhood, we’ve been conditioned to say yes to parents, teachers…, otherwise we would have received negative feedback.
When we started our careers, we said yes to every opportunity to learn, grow, and get recognized by our peers and company.
BUT, when we want to regain power over our busy schedule and want to fulfill our needs by focusing on meaningful topics, we need to learn to say “no”.
How to do so?
By referencing a commitment, people are generally understanding and rarely push back.
No one likes to break commitments, so people don’t want to pressure you into breaking your commitments.
Some examples of saying "no" respectfully:
– “I’m fully committed to a project right now, so I need to turn down your request”,
- “I’ve committed to spending more time with my family this weekend.”
- “I can’t join you for lunch as I’ve made a commitment to myself to go to the gym every day at lunch”.
If you value the relationship, another way to say "no" is to make a counteroffer.
- “I’m unable to do that at this time, but I can put you in touch with someone who can help.”
- “I don’t have time to do A, B, and C, but I’d be happy to help you with D, F or G”
- “I’m over‐committed right now and unable to attend your meeting, but I’d be happy to attend the next one”.
And remember:
Every time you say “yes,” you say “no” to something you value.
Every time you say "no", you say "yes" to yourself.
What’s your experience with saying "no" to people?
