No, You May Not Read This Article! OR: Time Is No Longer Money

Today I reviewed an important lesson for every entrepreneur, business owner, marketer and professional: "Say No to Almost Everything."

Especially considering the age we live in, where content, information and distractions number in the literal billions - we have elevated procrastination and postponement to record levels.

(Yes, the irony is never lost on me - I just suckered you into reading one more article from the very same giant pile of content and information.)

But what does it mean to say "no" to just about everything?

You'll have to find that answer on your own; I can tell you where it leads, however.

• Saying "no" to sleeping late, hitting snooze, staying up late and being accessible 24 hours a day means wonderful things for sleep habits. I haven't slept this deeply or soundly on such a consistent track since childhood.
• Saying "no" to social media, websites, e-mails and text messages during the first waking hour of my day means a steady devotional and prayer life, usually mixed with the healing and restorative work of stretching and yoga.
• Saying "no" to my phone after I've checked for important messages - by putting it back on airplane mode and face-down on my desk - means I get back to writing, studying, listening to podcasts or creating content.
• Saying "no" to external client communications during my first hour at the office means I'm in proper contact with my colleagues and referral partners. It means I have time to review my calendar, set alarm reminders and contact underwriters.
• Saying "no" to estimating less than 30 minutes for journeys during midday traffic means I never leave my office with less than 30 minutes of travel time. It means I never run late or just barely get there. I'm always on time, just like I was taught as a soldier. (Soon, I plan to start saying "no" to driving period ... Uber can do the driving. I'll have far more important things to do.)
• Saying "no" to cramming the last 30 minutes of my workday full of frantic attempts to make things happen means I finish my day in zen. It forces me to be deliberate about completing tasks on time or ahead of schedule, and allows me to take a deep breath, drop my pen, lock my computer and ease my way out.

The more you practice saying "no" to our crazed culture, in small but noticeable ways, the less it keeps you on the hamster wheel.

This past summer I traveled to Colorado and spent time in the Rocky Mountains. It's home for me; a native of Alberta, Canada, nothing makes sense to me until there are vast blue skies and North America's mightiest mountain range in sight.

While meditating one morning and looking at these majestic rocks, I suddenly found myself longing to live there. It was the line that would sucker me into hating my life in the Pacific Northwest, with its endless, glum rainy season and claustro-inducing abundance of tree canopies.

Instead, by the Spirit of God, I realized that one day, in the Great Restoration, I would be at liberty to sit at the feet of those mighty mountains for as long as I liked, in a world without time, decay or unwanted responsibility.

I said "no" to that sleight of hand, but I also realized that until the Kingdom is restored, I have to say "no" to an awful lot of things - including good things.

I have to say "no" to tempting offers, accompanying ideas, extra tasks, even acts of kindness and compassion - because you simply cannot throw your arms around the world.

In that moment, staring up at the Rockies, I cemented the trajectory of my attitude toward my daily life. And you'd be amazed how much time that has saved me, at least in the abstract.

I no longer waste hours of my life dwelling on how much I'd rather be somewhere else, for one thing. I also don't blow perfectly good opportunities to have meaningful, productive and beneficial relationships with people who can help me.

Moreover, I'm able to decide - despite another rainy winter - that the place God has me is good. I don't pine for a preferable geographical and cultural location; the place where I am is preferred - by Someone a lot smarter, wiser and more knowledgeable of the outcome than me.

For a simpler example, I've had encouragements of all kinds from people as I've moved my first book to publishing.

Some of the suggestions have even come in the form of things I have planned to do - just not yet. But the seductive part is the hurrying assumption that I'm going to miss out on all kinds of bonus income I could otherwise receive.

The problem I have in agreeing with that premise is that time is no longer money.

Not in 21st Century Western life, anyway. Time has surpassed money as the most precious resource. (And little wonder, if you believe as I do that it's getting really close to the end.) We can print more money; we can't add time to the clock.

You don't have to believe me, of course - but I've lost far too many sales on phony price objections when the real problem for the client was the amount of time they perceived would be wasted, or threatened to waste, by proceeding.

I'm not talking about the "your price is too high" juke. This is the lazy "Meh ... your price is the same as my current coverage, why should I bother" exercise.

Using the same principle with which we began: to keep their sanity (at least, as they perceive it), they have to say "no." Otherwise, life will become even more complex.

There's hope for salespeople in realizing this, because it usually indicates that (a) their decisions have nothing to do with your level of professionalism and (b) you can adapt to it if you're willing.

In fact, I recently used time as a countermeasure, when a client wanted to draw back out of a sale due to an element of the price she didn't like. She started to talk herself out of the sale. I never said a word; I knew she was a business owner pressed for time and faced the risk of starting her shopping process over again if she walked out of my office.

So she paid the part of the price she didn't like. It led to a wonderful conversation about business and entrepreneurship, and now she tells me how much she appreciates the convenience and quality of service I provide. She paid the extra premium for the time I have saved her since she signed up. And she views the knowledge that I shared with her in our conversations as "icing on top of icing" on the cake.

Indeed, if you look at what people are willing to spend to mine your knowledge of how to make business succeed or function in less time, with fewer setbacks and less waste, it's astonishing how valuable time has become.

So, if you're going to say "yes" to anything, I recommend it for learning skills and lessons to teach (for a fee) to our time-famished society at large.

Teach mothers how to have more time to manage their households.

Teach executives and business owners how to delegate authority.

Teach young people how to spend just half as much time on things that actually matter as they do on things that don't.

Teach creatives not to waste time on tech; teach techies not to waste time on creative.

But whatever you do, always ask yourself that set of questions that modern technology has failed to eliminate:

1. Does doing this get me closer to my goal?
2. Does not doing this move me further away from it?

Once you have the answer to that, you can really enjoy your day saying "nay."

-Paul