Do you find yourself saying “yes” to people and regret it moments later?
Imagine your presentation deadline is tomorrow, and your friend is calling in you in a hurry asking you to go out at night and you said yes let’s go. Think of a relationship when you always feel dumped and down but each day you say yes to such relationship
Now the following question is, did you think a minute what if you said no?
Do you have other choices for you?
What if you kept always saying yes, how would your future will look like?
Before your think about saying no, consider your own time and priorities. We all have dreams and objectives trying to achieve throughout our journeys. Keeping these objectives always on the top of our heads will remind us that we may say No because we have other YES that serves our vision.
Different researches showed that people who face difficulty in saying no may experience stress, anxiety, burnout, and lack of confidence. Over commitment can affect our ourselves, as we keep promising to please others we are neglecting our own needs and urgencies.
Your self-confidence also can be negatively affected. With saying YES to you are being a follower to people around you. Gradually you will feel weak and hesitated about taking decisions for you.
By following the below simple strategies you can easily master the art of saying NO:
1. Discover your YES
Start your day with writing down your to do list for the day. Make it inspiring and measurable. Read it twice at your earliest to remind yourself that this day counts and you have objectives to be done during it. Now if a strange request or a situation popped up, you have a reference checklist to see whether this will affect your day’s performance or it can be added between your tasks’ sandwich.
Think of the relationship you want to live. We all want to feel loved and respected. We all need a supporter partners who engage with us. Know your self-worthiness and never settle down for less. Feeling confident in saying "no" can help people set clear and consistent boundaries in their relationships.
2. Explore your future through today’s mirror
Unknown always exist in our lives, as we cannot know what will exactly will happen after month or a year. Yet, what we are doing today is enormously shaping our tomorrows. Basically our future is today’s mirror! Imagine you avoided saying NO because you are shy or hasty, you will find you future is full of achievements but not yours. It’s for others! Because you put others’ objectives above our own. Avoid being a people pleaser Work now on how your destiny will look like and act accordingly.
3. Be smart
Relationships in our lives are something core. People are a main component of our journeys. Some support us, some teach us, and some inspire us! That’s why it is crucial not to lose people especially who you matter. Be smart when you are saying no to those people. Find the best way to apologize or to reschedule something to avoid any conflicts in your life. If someone is close to you can explain your No to seek more support and guidance.
Say no can be in different forms rather than the direct one. It can be in a form of:
Let me check and get back to you.
It sounds like not matching for me today, maybe we can make it another day.
What about make it on 9 pm instead.
Can we take a break to figure out our relationship issues?
Saying “no” in a professional manner is an important skill learned over time. It is always essential to be followed by a justification. For example, my schedule is fully booked today we can make our meeting next week.
Eventually, remember saying no is your right and has nothing to do with exercising some sort of ego or being arrogant. It is simply means that you say no because the proposed ask does not fit your schedule or beliefs. And always make sure when you say no to something unworthy or unimportant, you are saying yes to something worthy and important.