Yesterday I talked about “unlearning the value of hard work.” The punchline was that we overload ourselves with “good” things to do, when we should be more picky and wait for the “great” ones. Hard work is good, when it gets you somewhere. Otherwise, it’s a distraction.
We hate the idea that we can’t have it all
But it’s true. Right now you’re reading this post. You’re not playing basketball, cooking risotto, solving calculus homework, or preparing a speech. By saying “yes” to one thing, you’re automatically saying “no” to everything else.
People who win balance trade offs
Our typical response is not to say”no.” Rather, we tell ourselves “later.” We don’t put things down, we just put them off. And this eats at us and the people we interact with. We set ourselves up to disappoint everyone.
Would you rather have someone commit but then keep putting you off, or just say “no” at the start so you can find someone else?
Two things to do:
- Eliminate from your list those things that you should have said “no” to earlier.
- Tighten your criteria for saying “yes” in the future: Am I the BEST person to do this? Is doing this the BEST use of my time?
If you can’t actually picture yourself sitting down to a task, having said “no” to EVERYTHING else in your world, then don’t commit to it!
