If I’m really being honest with myself, one of my greatest opportunities for career development is that I say yes too much.
It is, in fact, possible to say yes too much.
I’ve gotten much better at selectively saying no over the years, but I still have to work at it. There are many good reasons why we say yes too much:
-We want to be helpful
-We want to be both valued and valuable
-We want to come through for someone who’s asking for assistance
All good reasons.
But there are good reasons to say no too. They can be things like:
-Keeping the quality of your work high
-Maintaining a healthy work/life balance
-Not spreading yourself too thin
Saying no to the right thing at the right time can be a gift to yourself and others as well because you’ll be ensuring that what you’re really great at stays that way.
Because that’s why you’re being asked in the first place.
