Rescue Your Productivity: Just Say ‘No’ – More Often

Posted on 25. May, 2010 by Adam in Business, Entrepreneurship, Productivity

At some point, just about everyone says yes to something to which they would rather have said no.  Why is that?  Maybe it’s part of our makeup.  Since childhood, we’ve all hated to hear, “NO.”  And our parents didn’t like saying it much more than we liked hearing it.  That’s why they used phrases like, “We’ll see,” and “Go ask your mother.”  But in business, “we’ll see” is seen as weak, and passing the buck is looked down upon.  So even those of us who aren’t habitual people-pleasers will often say yes to spare feelings and protect egos – even if it means compromising our own productivity.  Add to that the fear of upsetting a client or potential client, and we can quickly find ourselves saying yes way too often.

Some people hate saying no so much, they’ve developed the habit of the “default yes.”  Do clients, contacts, and networking acquaintances send you email newsletters you never read?  Do you automatically accept Facebook and LinkedIn friend, group, and fan page requests – knowing that they will lead to floods of unwanted inbox messages?  Why don’t you unsubscribe?  Why don’t you ignore or reject the requests and invitations?  Not only do we worry about the potential of hurting someone’s feelings in these cases, it’s also likely you are worried about the impression unsubscribing will make.  We can sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that turning people down – in any form – is bad business.

The truth is, it’s not bad business to protect your productivity by being selective about the things you say yes to.  Saying yes to everyone isn’t doing anyone any favors – especially not you.  All of us who send out newsletters expect a certain number of unsubscribes, and professionals don’t take them personally, because we’re all in the same boat.  Who doesn’t get a ton of email they don’t need?  We all do.

As for social media, the beauty of the “ignore” button is that no one knows when you press it.  They don’t get an alert saying, “Bob just ignored your friend request.  Clearly he hates you.”  Also, many of those you’d like to ignore are the same people sending requests to everyone and their brother, so it’s doubtful they can even remember who they sent requests to!  So don’t worry about being selective.  Social media is a great tool for cultivating business relationships and should be used as such.  Select those you want to get to know and politely decline the rest.  It’s true that opportunity can be found anywhere, but there’s nothing wrong with narrowing down your contact lists to those most likely to result in mutually beneficial relationships.

The second part of the equation is managing those you do say yes to.  Even once you’ve committed to reducing the percentage of time you say yes, you might still find that your productivity is lacking.  And you’re not alone.  After all, it’s not just email and social media we have to keep track of.  We’ve got requests to attend webinars, trade shows, networking events, and a seemingly endless list of other “opportunities” to manage.  So even after you decide to say no to more of these, it’s likely you’re still keeping track of a lot of activity.  Oh, and you say you’d like to actually run your business some of the time as well?  How do you manage it all?  Try these ideas to keep your productivity optimized:

Hire a virtual assistant. From managing your email communications and social media presence to sending out marketing materials and writing blog entries, a qualified virtual assistant (VA) can help with a wide variety of tasks.  And with the number of people looking for work these days, coupled with the number of people interested in working from home – regardless of the unemployment rate – it’s possible to find a virtual assistant at a very reasonable monthly cost.  At sites like VirtualAssistants.com, you can post a description of your needs for free, and you’ll receive several VA resumes to choose from.  Be sure to ask for (and check) references, and writing samples, if applicable.

Use online productivity tools. Whether you hire a VA or not, there are a number of online productivity tools to help you further maximize your time.  Want to stay productive on the go without writing or typing?  Try out Jott Assistant.  This very cool service allows you to call a toll free number and “use your voice to capture notes and to-dos, set reminders and appointments, send email and text messages, and post to your favorite web services.”  It also integrates with your iPhone, Blackberry, Outlook and more.  Try it free for a week and see if it’s the right solution for you.

Another great tool to help you keep track of your thoughts, meetings, to-dos, and everything else on your plate is Evernote.  If you’ve ever been stuck trying to remember a great website you saw or the name of a contact you met at last night’s networking meeting, Evernote can help.  As they say on their site, “Chances are, if you can see it or think of it, Evernote can help you remember it.”  The best part about Evernote is that you get incredible functionality, and it’s free!

Obviously there’s a wealth of other productivity tools at your disposal in addition to these.  The point is, don’t hesitate to get help in some form.  Once you’ve learned to say no and manage your yeses, you’ll be amazed at how your productivity will soar!

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Tags: Business, entrepreneur, Productivity, small business

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