The Value of Saying No

“The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say ‘no' to almost everything.”   ~ Warren Buffett

Saying no is hard. No one wants to wants to see that disappointed look on someone’s face or feel that sudden awkwardness that often overtakes the room when someone gets turned down. Who really wants to hurt someone else’s feelings like that? Not us. We’re can-do team players, right? What if we might need that person for something later? And there’s always that voice in the back of our head that tells us we’re missing out on a potential steal of a lifetime.

The result is that we inevitably end up saying ‘yes’, even when it isn’t always in our best interest to do so. When you agree to something you want it to be for the right reasons. You want it to be for a great opportunity or a great cause, not because you’re afraid to turn someone down.

If you want to be successful however, sometimes saying ‘no’ is the smart play.

By agreeing to everything, we end up over committing. We stretch ourselves too thinly trying to be everything to everybody. Successful people like Warren Buffett know that our most important resource is time. You’ll always have the chance to earn more money, restore a reputation or even win back a lost love. Time is something you’ll never get back.

Saying ‘no’ also allows you to set your own agenda rather than take on the agendas of others. It lets you prioritize the things that are most important to you and focus your talent and drive on those things. Very successful people carefully pick and choose, because they know that when you try to have everything you find you don’t have time for anything.

To get an idea of what this prioritization means, try writing down the 25 most important things to you. These could be anything from playing in the spring baseball league, to that European vacation, to increasing your sales, to aggressively taking your business into a new market. Next, cross off 20 of those things. Whittle them down until you have only the most critical things, things you know your life would be utterly incomplete without. These are the things you should focus on. Ignore the rest. Doing so allows you to focus on what really matters. One fully completed project is often worth more than several half-completed ones, just as one job done with excellence is worth several done half-heartedly.

We only have a set amount of time. It’s how we use it that means the difference between successful and very successful.