How To Learn When To Say No

Saying ‘No’ can be a very difficult thing to do, but what is even more difficult is to determine when to say ‘No’. There are many people who simply can’t say ‘No’ to anyone’s request. This gets them into rough waters quite often, as they compromise on their own priorities, so as to meet the requests made by others to them. The key to succeed in meeting our priorities dot on time and not bother ourselves with other people’s work when we really don’t want to, is to know how to say ‘No’ and more importantly, when to say ‘No’. The article brings you some very useful tips, which will help you to learn when to say ‘No’

 

While it may sound a little self-centered, it has to be the key if you don’t want to upset the tasks on your agenda. Factoring in your convenience is not to say that you should abstain from helping or saying ‘Yes’ to others, it only pitches in your priorities, which you can’t compromise on. If you can conveniently help others at the expense of some of your time, you should always go ahead. You will also need others once in a while, for any of your random jobs. However, if you think that you don’t have the required time for others, get on with your work without a second thought.

 

Some people just make it a habit to fall back on others for their tasks and people who are ‘pushovers’ are obviously the softest targets around. People will try hard to convince you to get their job done; if they know that you find it difficult to say ‘No’. You need to ensure that you are not taken advantage of. Do what you possibly can for others, but know where the threshold is. When you know that the other person is simply taking advantage of your feebleness in saying ‘NO’, it is the time to firmly refuse to oblige him/her.  

 

If your mind is not conditioned to know when you are indispensable, you will have to train your mind to learn that. Determining whether you are really needed for a particular task or not, is also the criterion to decide whether its’ time to say ‘No’. If you think that the concerned person is in a capacity to the job that he/she is entrusting upon you, there is no reason why he/she can’t be refused. On the contrary, if you think that you are really needed in a particular situation and it just can’t work without you, you should certainly consider helping the other person.

 

As much as learning when to say ‘No’ is important, learning how to say it is equally vital. A ‘No’ should always be polite, unless your intention is to deliberately snap back at the other person. In the professional arena, you simply can’t say ‘No’ in a crude manner. In fact, instead of saying ‘No’ right on the face of a senior, you can simply cite some other tasks that you have at hand, disallowing you to heed to his/her request. Be polite and gracious when refusing something and you will never fall in anybody’s bad books.