Have you become a yes-person? Do you take on commitments, agree to meetings and make promises when you know you should be saying, no?
Some people say yes out of fear, some because they want to be liked and some say yes simply because they have no focus or plan for themselves. Learning to say no is vital to your success and your sanity.
You must recognize that when you say yes, but wish you had said no, you don’t do anyone any favors. The other person believes you can and will deliver as promised – so they are now set up for failure. And you begin to feel overwhelmed knowing you have far too many commitments and can’t possibly keep them all. The stress caused by saying yes is huge and can become a cracking point for you and for your business.
Many people are afraid to say no for fear of loss or that the other person might be offended.
The reality is people would much rather you say no now than find out last minute that you really couldn’t do what you said yes to.
The best way to have confidence in saying no, as Stephen Covey suggests, is to have a deep and very compelling yes burning inside of you. In other words, if you have clearly established your goals and priorities it becomes much easier to evaluate whether or not you should say yes to another commitment. You will also find that by having your deeper yes, you will no longer have the big guilt when saying no.
When saying no is the right thing to say, say it! Everyone will be better off in the end for it. Unfortunately, when we say yes to too many low priority items we often end up having to say no to things that are truly important. A string of unnecessary yeses can often lead to saying no to the “opportunity of a lifetime” and often we say no to it by default.
Evaluate your current commitments – if there are some that are just out of the realm of possibility, deal with them now. By regularly reviewing your commitments you will become very good at saying no when needed and saying yes to the commitments that matter most.
If you’re unsure about where your business is heading, and need some advice, we’re here to help! Contact us today!
