Dominica DeGrandis

All right, everybody. We're going to have a frank talk about the no word. We're going to have a discussion on it, actually. Because when we spend a lot of time saying yes, we overload ourselves, we overload our teams, we overload the family, the dog, you name it, and we don't get the things that are really important to do.

But it's hard to say no. So my husband got me this hat, and I thought, "Oh, nice." And then I wondered, did he get me this so that he could borrow it when I ask him to make these long lists of things to do? It's hard for him to say no, right? It's uncomfortable for us to say no. We're not used to saying it. But saying no does not make you an arse. Right? Sometimes it's needed.

So we're going to practice seven ways to get your no skills on.

Number seven: your colleague asks you for help to fix the printer. Your response? No. Yeah. You could say, "I'm really busy right now. There are some instructions for the printer. See if you can figure that out." Beware of allowing yourself to be pegged as the fixer person. Right? And don't assume that what your colleagues are doing is more important than what you're doing.

Number six: Brett resigns, and the boss asks you to cover his workload just until the new hire starts. Your response? No. You could say, "I'm so honored that you would consider me for this position. I'm going to have to get back to you after I talk with the team." Sometimes you just have to stall to the last responsible moment.

All right, number five: Boss Man has asked you to work on Project Sally. Your response? No. Yeah. It's hard to say no to the boss, particularly when they make you an offer you cannot refuse. Be careful with this, because you may not want to be involved with Project Sally. Maybe it's just not in the cards, right? You may need to think about it. If you hedge a no, you can buy some time.

Number four: "Do you have a minute?" Your response? No. Yeah. Sorry, mate. Nothing really ever takes just a minute. And if you can remember your mornings, the first thing in the day is to get your most important work done. Right? If you continue to say yes and let people interrupt you, your whole day could be shot with five-minute interruptions.

Number three: your colleague notices that you're headed out to lunch and asks you if you could pick them up some aspirin and some black socks. Your response? No. Yeah. No. Sorry, no. In some cases, it's just best not to elaborate. Right? Keep in mind that no is actually a complete sentence. You just need to do that.

Okay. Number two: your friend from out of town has arrived for the week. They think you have all week to spend with them. Right? Your response? No. Yeah. It's like, "Oh, I am so excited to see you, but I'm just impossibly busy this week." Right? Remember, we can have many high priorities, but we can only have one top priority. And if we decide to say yes to something else, we're going to delay our top high priority.

Number one: "Can you do a favor for me? Can you cover the Atlanta meeting?" Your response? No. Yeah. With this one, consider the trade-offs. Because it could be that maybe if you cover the Atlanta meeting, then you can ask them to cover your Cleveland meeting for you.

Remember that WIP, work in progress, is a leading indicator. Right? The single most important factor that affects wait time is capacity utilization. So have a think. Just consider Warren's message here. Right? Because your response of no, anybody asking you to do something, if it's not in line with your goals, then no is an honorable response. Right?

Because if you're going to get the work of your life done, then you need to allocate time to do so. Right? You have to ruthlessly protect your time so that you can liberate yourself. So what are you going to say no to today?

Thank you.