When To Say “No”
The idea might sound strange but
being able to say ‘no’ is
fundamental to any scheme of Time
Management.
Yes, you have the master plan for time
management, you
have everything worked out, you have a
time table which you stick
to religiously, and you have a ‘to do’
list as well. But just when
things are beginning to work out fine, a
colleague or friend comes
your way and asks you to help them out.
The person smiles very sweetly at you
and showers sugar-coated words on you, and before you even
know what hit you, you
have said yes and agreed to do the work
for the person. Now what
is the relevance of your well thought
out timetable? Where is your
scheme for time management? Your work is
waiting
while you are sweating over somebody
else’s work. It’s
because of the simple reason that you
could not say no to the
person.
How many times have you had a
similar experience?
I’m not saying that you should not be
civil. If you find a
colleague in distress and have the time
to spare, by all means help
the person. Who knows, tomorrow you
might be in that persons
position and you may need somebody’s
help.
That does not mean that you should
let yourself be taken
for a ride. If you are going to help a
person at the expense of your
work and schedule, then you are going to
end up in hot water. It is
human nature to shirk work and if word
gets around that you are a
very helpful guy (read that as
s-u-c-k-e-r) then before you know it,
requests for help will be coming from
all sides.
Unless you want to take up from where
Mother Theresa left
off, you had better put your foot down
and say “Sorry, but I
just don’t have the time.” Behave like a
diplomat. I remember
reading somewhere that a diplomat is a
person who can tell you to
go to hell in such a nice manner that
you will actually start looking
forward to the trip.
So that is just what you have to do.
Done the mask of the
diplomat and the next time someone
approaches you with sugar-coated requests to help them out, smile
back at them. Give them a nice sweet
smile and just say NO!
Face the facts, in today’s world
of cut throat
competition your very existence may
depend on your ability to say
“no.”
===================
Accomplish more. |
