It was a Monday evening and I politely refused to undertake another end-of-day task. These tasks were always presented in the form of polite requests and quite sadly, just before the end of my shift. Prior to this incident, I will politely accept despite my head telling me not to. Sometimes, it means I get to finish late, and worse still, I get home when my kids are already asleep. On certain occasions, I will take the work home and try to complete it before the morning. Does this sound familiar?
Thankfully, I had just completed “Essentialism“ a book by Greg Mckeown and I was determined to implement the practical help suggested by Greg. In Chapter three of the book, Greg emphasized the importance of discerning the “unimportance of practically everything”. He alluded to Boxer- the horse, a fictional character in George Orwell’s allegory novel- The Animal Farm. In The Animal Farm, Boxer is described as faithful and strong and answered every problem and setback with “I will work harder”. He lived true to this philosophy regardless of the circumstance, until he was sadly exhausted and broken and sent to the knacker’s yard. The story of Boxer is a rather tragic one and certainly one that a lot of people will relate to. I certainly did when I read The Animal Farm for the second time, more recently and soon realize that despite my best intentions, my increasing efforts exacerbated the inequality and problems within my universe. For me, every setback, every new task practically strengthened my resolve to work harder and longer. My response to every challenge was “Yes, I can take this one as well”. After all, I have in the past been amply rewarded for my hard work and ability to muscle through every task thrown at me.
However, Greg in the book Essentialism highlighted the importance of recognizing that there are limits to hard work and sometimes a polite “No”, can ensure one is more productive and able to prioritize time as one sees necessary. The principles as outlined by Greg do work. Many weeks on and the unsolicited task has reduced significantly. More importantly, I can plan my time better and prioritize my workload. After all, if I don’t, someone else will on my behalf.
It saves time to say “No”. But do it politely.
