Productivity Starts With “No”.
Some questions deserve an immediate “yes”.
Like when my daughter asks me to send her invisible parrot on a superhero mission.
Or when my wife asks me to go on solo-daddy-duty tonight while she binge-watches Parks & Rec.
I always say, “Yes” in those situations.
For everything else, I start with “no”.
Photo by Andy Tootell (https://unsplash.com/@andytoots)
Using My Superpower to Protect My Time
Saying “no” is my superpower. It allows me to get the important shit done.
Defaulting to “No” means I can ignore the loudest jerk and focus instead on the most important thing.
Priorities Default to “Yes”
Two very clear priorities always default to “yes”:
- Immediate Family
- Priority Projects
That’s it.
Everything else defaults to “no”.
You need to clear a hurdle to get a “Yes”.
Homework
How are you protecting your time?
-Toby
p.s. Having trouble saying “No” to low-priority clients, people, things? Send me an email with some times we might be able to chat next week.
