80% ‘No’ Up Front.

I don’t know about you, but for me, it’s much harder to say ‘no’ than it is to say ‘yes’.

I’m really good at ‘yes’.

I’m not so great at ‘no’. (I’m getting better as I get older, and practice it more.)

I can say ‘yes’ to just about anything and make it sound really good. I believe it too; I actually think I can do just about anything. And perhaps I can.

The problem is that sometimes, I say ‘yes’ to too many things, or to things which I should say ‘no’ to, leaving me in the position where I either have too much on my plate, or, in hindsight, I don’t really want to be doing this thing for so long.

So, remember: ‘no’ is your friend.

You should probably say ‘no’ to 80% of the things / offers / ideas that come your way.

If there’s any hesitation or uncertainty, don’t rationalize yourself out of that.

It probably should be a ‘no’ up front – no matter how hard that is to say.