TL; DR Default to NO.
“When you say no, you are only saying no to one option. When you say yes, you are saying no to every other option. No is a decision. Yes is a responsibility. Be careful what (and who) you say yes to. It will shape your day, your career, your family, your life.” — James Clear
“We need to learn the slow ‘yes’ and the quick ‘no.‘” — Tom Friel, the former CEO of Heidrick & Struggles
“Half of the troubles of this life can be traced to saying yes too quickly and not saying no soon enough.” — Josh Billings
When you say ‘yes’ to others, make sure you are not saying ‘no’ to yourself. Don’t be the one to tell yourself no.
Say NO (resist) to protect your YES (persist)
Saying yes to everything is a quick road / recipe to mediocrity
- Why is it so hard for us to see this? Inertia, for one. Ego, for another.
Remember: Whenever you say “yes” to something, you’re saying “no” to something else.
The 3-hours-or-nothing Rule
Don’t agree to anything “quick” unless you’re willing to spend 3+ hours on it.
When you follow this rule, your priorities get clear, you procrastinate less, you’re more focused and more productive, and time management becomes a lot easier. You say “no” a LOT more. And the “yes” becomes a lot more emphatic. You find yourself less stressed, less overthinking about the past and less anxious about the future.
The “Yes-Damn” Effect
- You say, “Yes,” and then the future date arrives, and you say, “Damn!”
- We often say yes to things assuming that we will have more time or energy for them in the future. But when that future date arrives, we regret it.
- As a rule of thumb, if you’re going to say yes to anything because you think you’ll have more time or energy for it in the future, say no instead!
The Right now Test by Sahil Bloom
When deciding whether to take on a new commitment, ask yourself, “Would I do this right now?” Think of right now as today or tomorrow. The aim is to eliminate the future time distortions observed by psychologists; by pulling the event into the present, you make a more clear, rational decision.
- If the answer is no, say no.
- If the answer is yes, take it on.
Examples:
- There is no code faster than no code.
- There is no meeting that goes faster than not having a meeting at all.
Two-factor authentication against your calendar by Naval Ravikant
- Say no over and over again to the unimportant things flying in our direction every day and remaining focused on saying yes to the few things that truly matter.
- See also: Seven Things Successful People Say No To Every Day
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