I have worked with a lot of coaching clients over the years who want to work on their time management and when we get down to the obstacles they may face in resolving their workload, the reluctance to say ‘no’ to someone who asks for something to be done is usually in the top 3! It can be difficult if your boss asks for you to take on a project, or your partner asks you to sort out the holiday when you are already running on fumes but perhaps this is the perfect time to ask yourself the following question:
‘What will you say no to if you are truly saying yes to this?”
Don’t move past the question because you don’t have time to look at it or don’t like what it brings up but everytime you say yes to something, it will mean you don’t have time for something else. That may be your child’s sports day, that may be doing one of your team’s appraisal on time, it may be that you are saying no, my health is not my priority…. Whatever it is, it is worth just stopping for a moment and making a conscious decision before saying yes. Or occasionally finding a way to say no.