Saying yes is important and critical for making business decisions. But, busy and successful entrepreneurs also know when to say no—and they say no most of the time.
Successful people know that their time and their goals are valuable, and they cannot be saying yes to too many things. They need to balance their days out, and that means they need to be saying no, or they need to pass up or decline many things that are not in line with their goals and also with what they need to achieve for the day.
For everyone, no matter how wealthy or successful, time is our most valuable asset. And, it’s important that when you are approached with a question or continuous requests or demands throughout the day that you ask yourself these five questions that I’m going to be sharing with you.
Q1: Does this request or demand energise me?
You’ve got to determine whether the request or the demand is going to motivate you and inspire you. Is it going to keep you excited? Is it going to bring out the energy in you? And, the opposite is true as well. If it doesn’t, then, is it going to drain you? Is it going to exhaust you?
Is it going to set you up that you are not going to be able to complete any of your other tasks?
So, question number one is very important. Ask yourself: Is this demand or request that someone is asking me to do going to energise me?
Q2: Is this aligned to my purpose, my core goals and my values?
Before answering this question, you must already know:
- What is your purpose?
- What are your core goals?
- What are your values?
Then, simply determine:
Does this request or demand fit and align with those core goals and values? Is it going to bring you closer to achieving your goals and dreams by saying yes to this?
Otherwise, you need to say no to that request. Anything that runs against your goals and values, you need to really consider wholeheartedly, and, in most cases, you should consider declining that request.
Q3: Would this enhance and help scale my business?
While looking at the potential of this activity or this request, or whatever it is that you’re being asked to do, ask yourself:
- Does this affect my business?
- Does it affect my business positively?
- Will it enhance and will it help me scale my business?
You have got to weigh this up. Will it enhance your business and help your business grow?
Sometimes, the requests are for intangible things like making connections.
But, you’ve got to weigh it up and ask: Is this a valuable connection that I’m going to make at the same time? So, weighing up the consequences on your business is a critical thing to do as well.
Q4: Could I use my time in a better way?
Now, this leads up to the first three questions as well. You’ve got to understand and know what it is that you have scheduled for your day.
If you’re saying yes to this, could you say yes to something else that is going to be a better use of your time. Also, is this going to drain your energy? Because then, you’re not going to be able to do the other things that are on your to-do-list.
So, it’s important to review your goals. Review your daily schedule and understand that if you’re going to say yes to a particular task, is that the best use of your time, or could your time be spent somewhere else?
One of the best things to consider as well with relation to these questions is:
Do you have a team that is there to support you, and are you able to delegate some of the activities and tasks that you are being requested to do?
It’s important as well to leverage some of your team to be able to take on some tasks that you don’t have the time to do or that you could spend in a more productive way.
Q5: Do the pros outweigh the cons?
If you are going to be saying yes to this question, consider:
- What are the advantages?
- What are the disadvantages?
- What are the pros and the cons?
If there are more pros, then yes, certainly you want to consider
doing the task. And, vice versa, if there are more cons, then you definitely want to be saying no to this activity, this task, this request that people are asking of you.
Do you ultimately benefit more from saying yes than you would lose if you were to do this activity, task or undertaking, or request that people are asking? Would the best decision be to pursue something that does not yield results for you and for your business?
If it doesn’t, then you want to say no. If there are benefits and there are certainly ways that you can get value out of saying yes, then you want to do that.
Now, what I’ve been talking about has mostly been around asking these five questions when it relates to a business setting.
When it comes to personal settings, then you might ask yourself one or two of these questions, but certainly you can’t be using all of them. Whether or not there’s a business advantage in something that’s more personal related, that question is not relevant.
So, if it’s in a more personal setting, you want to consider who is asking you that question. If it’s a question being asked by a family member or a child, then, it’s a completely different mindset that you have got to be having. And also, you have got to be considering the time spent with a family member or a child is very different.
It’s not only, what are the advantages for you? But, it’s also, what are the advantages of you giving your time to that family member or that child?
Entrepreneurs know when to say yes and also know when to say no
when they are asked to do certain things and when they have requests and demands placed on them. These five questions can be used as a framework to better manage your time, delegate activities to your team and also lead you to a more successful day.
