Just Say No

Whether it be in professional or personal life, finding time to accomplish your tasks is simply hard. Setting aside chunks of your day takes discipline and often, can require you to tell people what they don’t want to hear. Setting up your own process, tactics, or calendar to achieve this work time however, is crucial.

When telling others “no,” it takes a full belief that what you need to be working on is more important than what they are asking. Planning ahead for you day, and any interruptions are my best  ways of handling this. This sets you up so that even if the owner of the company tries to distract you, there is a clear value statement of why what you are working on now takes priority over their needs. This does not always work, but it will at a minimum make them more respectful of your time.

Other simple actions such as closing your door (if you have one), throwing in headphones, turning off email, and blocking time in your calendar all help to let others know that you should not be bothered. But the number one defender of your time is telling others that what you are working on cannot wait. Not always easy when talking to bosses, customers, or girlfriends.

In business, the drawbacks of not responding to others needs THIS VERY SECOND are generally not as bad as you originally think. Batching and answering all of your emails for instance helps you to not think about the while working on other tasks, and also gives you the clarity to assign yourself tasks in order of importance. Setting aside time for your own tasks also sets yourself up to offer someone your dedicated support on their task when the time comes.

How have you become successful in setting aside your own time?