Want to Know the Most Important Lesson You Can Learn?
Saying no.
No is a complete sentence.
No takes you further from things that don’t support your goals and closer to the things that do.
Learning to say no empowers you to set clear boundaries.
JUST SAY NO
…to offers or opportunities you don’t want or that don’t align with your goals. …to the opinions of others. …to anything you don’t feel compelled to do. …to yourself when you start any negative self-talk.
Saying no to things that don’t serve you is saying yes to yourself!
Here Are The Benefits of Saying No:
an increase in confidence
reduced stress
helping to prioritize what truly matters to you
better ability with boundary setting
increased self-worth
There are various reasons why we continue to say YES when we mean NO. For many it is to avoid confrontation or disappointment. Sometimes it is out of habit. Many of us are people pleasers and tend to put helping others ahead of our own needs. And then there’s FOMO – the fear of missing out – where we feel like if we say no we will miss an experience or feel guilty later on.
So how do we get off of the hamster wheel of yes?
Here are a few tips to Start Saying No:
Don’t answer right away. Give yourself time to think about the opportunity presented to you so you eliminate the habit of immediacy and allow yourself time and bandwidth to process.
Practice! If you know you are going into a conversation or situation where you will be asked to do something that you don’t want to do, play it over in your mind as many times as you need to to feel confident with your response.
Keep your response short and simple. A no doesn’t require an explanation or a reason, just be sure to keep it polite and friendly.
Use positive affirmations to reaffirm your confidence to decline opportunities and put your priorities first.
Find a happy medium. Sometimes neither no or yes is appropriate but rather a solution or option in the middle.
Use These Prompts to Flex Your NO Muscle:
I’m not available but maybe next time.
Thanks for thinking of me, but I can’t right now.
Unfortunately this isn’t something I can do right now.
I’m honored that you asked but I can’t take that on at this time.
No, but thank you!
Once you get more comfortable saying no to people and opportunities that will not serve you, you will be able to build on this skill to truly evaluate what is in your best interest and what is not. You will sharpen your ability to honestly evaluate situations and determine why you need to say no, offer solutions and stay on course with your top priorities.
As Steve Jobs notes, “It’s only by saying NO that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.”