Saying “no” is one of the biggest timesavers in existence. It could spare you from unproductive commitments which may cost you hours, days, or even months of your time. Unfortunately, it may not be easy to say “no” when someone asks you for something. You may have a guilty feeling which makes you give a “yes” to the request while it actually deserves a “no”. As a result, you would be trapped in productivity pitfalls which will benefit neither you nor anybody else in the long term.
So how do you use this big timesaver without feeling guilty? How can you say “no” with a smile and move on in your life? Here are four simple steps to help you do so:
- Be sincere
Sometimes the guilty feeling is there for a reason. It may serve you as reminder if you say “no” while your heart actually says “yes”. So, first of all, you should be honest with yourself. Do you say “no” out of a sincere heart? Are you sure that you say it not because of your own ego or self-centered interests?
If you’re sure that you are sincere, then you have a firm foundation to say “no” without feeling guilty. Otherwise, you may need to introspect and change your answer according to what your heart tells you. - Be sure that the world will be better if you say “no”
You can say “no” without ever feeling guilty if you’re sure that your decision will eventually make the world a better place. It may not be easy, of course, since it’s often the case that your decision seems good just for you but bad for the others in the short term.
To overcome this problem, you should have a firm purpose in your heart. A firm purpose allows you to see further and deeper, and that enables you to see your decision as part of a larger story which will eventually benefit the world. - Find a benefit for the other party
While having a purpose and seeing the larger story will help you feel comfortable with your decision, you still need to make the other party feel the same. To do so, you need to somehow give them a reason which will benefit them.
If you are sure that the world will be a better place through your decision (step #2), you can then look through the others’ eyes and find a benefit for them.
It may save them time, help them grow, or enable you to help them more effectively in a different way. Your saying “no” should create a win-win situation for both you and the other party. - Communicate the benefit clearly to the other party
After you have a good reason for the other party, you need to communicate it clearly. Choose polite but firm words which will give them a clear “no” but also a clear reason of why doing so may benefit them. A well communicated reason will make them feel comfortable with your decision, and that will put the guilty feeling even further from you.
The 1st one is probably the most common problem we have. We are only fooling ourselves if we don’t recognize what we truly want. We don’t have to force ourselves to do things we might regret.
Being sincere is indeed difficult, Pamela. Often we think that we are sincere while we actually aren’t. I think it requires practice to be honest with ourselves.
Nice post. I’ve been in that situation a lot of times and it’s not a great experience to force ourselves to do things we don’t want just because of guilt.
[…] When someone asks you to do something, make your default answer “yes” (but don’t forget to say “no” when appropriate). […]
Alan, I think we all face such situation every now and then. Doing something just because of guilt while we know we shouldn’t is a real time waster. I hope we can all stop wasting time on unproductive commitments.