Page 9 - Personal Productivity

? Think back to a recent time when you “
Time you enjoy
failed to say no and in hindsight, you
should have pushed back. What were wasting is not
- Marthe Troly-”
the consequences? wasted time.

Curtin, Phrynette
Married

Saying no

Most of the time, whether Delegating Tasks
at work or in our social
lives, we want to say ‘yes’
to the things that people
ask us to do; we want to be
helpful and supportive. We
typically want a reputation as
someone who can get things
done and who is easy to
work with.

However, if we always say
‘yes’ to everything that
is asked of us it doesn’t take long to become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work
we need to do; so deadlines slip, tasks are unfinished, people get disappointed and we get
stressed.

So saying ‘no’ (or at least saying, not right now) and pro-actively negotiating priorities is a
key life skill. After all, if you never say ‘no’ what is the value of your ‘yes’? Diplomacy is key
and goes a long way to pushing back.

In fact research conducted at the University of California in San Francisco shows that the more
difficulty a person has saying no, the more likely they are to experience stress, burnout, and
even depression. So learning to say ‘no’, diplomatically, can improve both your emotional
state, as well as your productivity.

Your ability to challenge workload is often linked to a
Did you know? person’s personality. For those familiar with Insights
psychometrics, people that lead with green or yellow
may find pushing back more challenging.

KEEP MAXIMISE REMAIN BECOME MORE
ORGANISED YOUR TIME FOCUSED EFFICIENT