Save Time by Saying ?No?

 

"I wouldn’t have any problem getting my work done if people would just stop interrupting me!" This is probably the number one universal complaint when it comes to time management. It certainly makes sense that it would be easier to complete our to do lists if people would stop giving us more to do. However, it is a little more complicated than that. You need to start by asking yourself, "Why do I keep allowing people to give me more stuff to do?" Without a doubt, a big reason these interruptions steal our time is because many of us don’t know how to "NO."

The Need to Please Others

Some people find it hard to say no because their highest emotional priority is making sure other people are happy. This emotional priority has nothing to do with the activities connected to important goals in their professional or personal life, but it does override their commitment to accomplish those stated goals. They are driven by an inner "meta-message"– you might call it a "master goal" that defines how they manage all of their other goals– which says, "My main mission in life is to accommodate the needs of those around me." When they receive a request from someone else, the fear of letting others down or being thought ill of ? or concern over some vague, possible future consequences? forces them to say yes even if they would prefer to say no. They will say yes, KNOWING that it will steal time away from a higher priority activity with an impending deadline, and keep getting farther and farther behind as a result.

So, who is the real time bandit here, the person who interrupts with a new request, or the person who says yes when they really need to say no? One thing is absolutely certain: if you keep saying yes, people will keep giving you more work to do. If you are feeling overwhelmed by the wave of requests and interruptions confronting you every day, you probably need to learn how to cordially, firmly and gracefully say no.

Learning to say "no" gracefully is a four-step process:

1. Admit to yourself that you have a problem saying "no."

2. Decide what your priorities and limits must be (you are the only one who can do this ? everyone else tends to think and behave as though you have unlimited time).

3. Plan out and rehearse IN ADVANCE how you will say "no" to requests that distract you from your important tasks.

4. Commit to putting your plan in action immediately.

Remember:

 

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Quick Tip of the Month – Color Coded Emails

Microsoft Outlook has a feature to make scanning your Inbox more efficient and effective by identifying Important Senders and Color Coding them for easy reference. For instance, if communication with your manager is frequent and important, you can assign specific color to his/her name. Perhaps you manage several teams or projects, and would like to be able easily distinguish mail from a specific group. Here is how you color code your important senders:

• Under TOOLS select Organize?
• Organize your Inbox window gives you several options
• Select Using Colors
• Highlight the email from the Sender you want to color code
• Select the color for sender
• Click Apply Color