How to say “No” right now - Lara Hogan, Wherewithall

This resource first appeared in issue #52 on 27 Nov 2020 and has tags Strategy: Working with Stakeholders, Strategy: Prioritization

The year end is approaching, and with it deadlines and final pushes. But other stuff comes up.

The solution to dealing with too much work isn’t “time management” - managing time isn’t a power granted to us. There’s only task management, and the number one task management skill is declining them.

This is a good time of year to practice saying no or deferring a yes - everyone’s in the same boat and so understands. In her latest newsletter issue, Hogan walks through three steps to say no for the next month:

Identify the #1 thing you are optimizing for through the end of the year.
Run any decision past that #1 thing.
Say “yes” or “no” in a way that works for you.