From the course: Personal Effectiveness Tips

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How to decide what to say no to

How to decide what to say no to

From the course: Personal Effectiveness Tips

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How to decide what to say no to

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- Everyday you get requests. Can you look at this document? Can you meet for coffee? Can I pick your brain? It's tempting to say yes to everyone. After all, who wants to be the bad guy? But there's a cost to agreeing to all those requests, and that cost is lost productivity. If you're going to get your own work done and accomplish anything meaningful, you can't say yes to everything. Here's how to decide when to say no without being a jerk or missing opportunities. First, ask yourself, is this an opportunity where I can add unique value? If a coworker wants you to attend a meeting, it's okay to press a little in order to figure out why. If his answer is, "so you can be updated "on what we're doing." Sorry, that's not a good enough reason. You can be updated by reading an email. But if his answer is, "because you're our in-house expert "on China, and we need your opinion about whether to expand "into Hungjao," then that's a pretty good reason. Similarly, if an acquaintance wants to do…

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