We're overwhelmed, we're connected 24/7, most of us have information flowing in multiple
channels.
Our calendars are packed, our task lists are long to overflowing and this is what I call
the busyness epidemic that's consuming us.
So there becomes in our society this like busyness badge where we all need to be overstuffed,
over scheduled because that in our culture it is how you demonstrate value and how you
demonstrate that you're needed and important.
That's not necessarily the case.
Every time you say yes you're saying no to something else.
So the whole point is to get really clear around what you want to say yes to and what
you want to say no to.
Because every time you say yes you end up with a calendar that's full to overflowing.
Many of the things that might be in it are really not in alignment with you and who you
are.
And so no becomes a powerful tool to take back control of your time in your day and
our hesitation with saying no is we think maybe we're going to disappoint them or we're
not going to be able to move forward in our career, well that's not true.
If you say no I can't do this project right now because I'm working on X, can I get to
it later?
You're now having your manager as this key stakeholder helping you make some decisions
and prioritize your workload and you're letting them know what you're working on because a
lot of the time they don't know.
So your no empowers others to help you as you're helping yourself.
But we're also very short and sweet in our no.
We don't give them a list of reasons why.
You aren't saying I'd love to but I've got this and that because then they might come
back to you and say oh but it's only going to take a few minutes, it's only going to
take a couple of days.
You want to be very short and succinct in your no and then gracefully decline.
And remember that it's not always about you.
You're no is not necessarily going to ruin their day; they'll probably go and ask someone
else and be just fine.
So, I think what happens with the busyness epidemic is you get so caught up in the doing
of your day, you're just moving through the meetings, moving through the tasks that you
forget that we're not human doings, we're human beings.
And so some of the vitality and the beauty in life you just miss because your head's
down and you're constantly responding and reacting to everything else that's going on
in your world.
And so it's in that space of the pause or a little bit of white space on your calendar
that that's where I think you can find those little moments of joy and meaning.