“No” is not always a negative response.
I’ve had to REALLY work on myself to “get” this.
Maybe you’ve already mastered this tip.
Or, maybe you’re (still) a recovering People Pleaser?
This productivity tip has really helped me …
Before I call out the productivity tip again, here are some reminders ..
We ALL have more things coming at us for our attention, time, energy and response. That’s the constant.
The parts we control are what we CHOOSE to make a priority for now. Or choose to say “No” to, at least for now.
As a Certified High Performance Coach, I work with quite a few people that are very driven, very effective overall with productivity.
And the common theme is often …
Productivity Is Getting Lots Done & Better/Faster than (insert your cult of comparison here) …
Wrong.
Productivity is about setting and communicating YOUR priorities so that you have more time, on fewer things, to work your magic.
Here are a few ways I would struggle before I better learned how to Say No for my own productivity:
- I don’t want to make that person feel bad
- I’m only enough (as a person) IF I do enough
- What will they think if I don’t handle that?! I have in the past …
- It won’t take me that much time
- It’s not a bad activity or idea, so …
Can you relate to any of those? Or maybe all?
To continually grow your productivity, you’ll need to constantly say No to things that come up. It might be a “not for now but maybe later”, but it’s still a No. Today.
That’s your productivity tip to exercise starting today – Just Say No when it makes sense for youl
And, you can’t just use the filter of “is this a good thing overall?” to hone your productivity skills.
You’ll still have too many good things asking for your attention right now so that’s where the courage is required.
(It’s usually pretty easy to say No to things we know are a bad idea.)
What is your No For Now? How will you put this productivity tip into place TODAY?
Comment below with what it is for some accountability!