Learning to say ‘no’ is one of the hardest yet most valuable of all life lessons.
Truly successful people have a clear understanding of what is important and what is irrelevant. They understand the true value of their time:
They say no to opportunities and things that don’t excite them, speak to their values, or further their mission in life.
They say no to superficial networking events where people swap business cards and never hear from one another again. Successful people build relationships, not networks.
They say no to spending time with uninspiring, critical, or negative. Time is precious – choose a small circle of people who will energize and challenge you to be better.
They say no to overworking. While some successful people and many entrepreneurs put in 60 to 80 hours per week, very successful people aren’t workaholics. They recognize that if they can’t take care of themselves, everything else suffers.
They say no to doing all the work because they have learned to DELEGATE!
They say no to giving control of their life to anyone else. As Buffett has also been quoted as saying:
“You’ve gotta keep control of your time and you can’t unless you say no. You can’t let people set your agenda in life.”
They say no to people-pleasing. Successful people don’t neglect their deepest wishes and desires to accommodate and yield the wishes and desires of others.
All time has an opportunity cost. You choose to do X or you choose to do Y. Once ‘spent’, that time is gone forever.
