Do you find it difficult to turn down meeting invitations and appointment requests?

Are you looking for some solid reasons as to why you should incorporate the word ‘no’ in to your scheduling vocabulary?

In this post, I offer a few thoughts on why saying ‘no’ to unnecessary meetings and appointments is important for the health and wellbeing of your daily schedule.

Saying ‘no’ means that:

You value and honor your time.

We all know there are twenty-four hours in a day.

That’s a set, finite amount of time.

Saying ‘no’ shows that you are aware of the fact that you only have a limited amount of time to spend each day on your pursuits.

Don’t ever forget that your time is valuable.

People will always ask for your time and attention as you travel through life, and some might even try to trick you into devaluing your time.

Please don’t give them the chance or the satisfaction!

No one else is ever going to value your time as highly as you, so you’d do well to regard your calendar and schedule as a precious, precious item.

You respect your personal goals.

Imagine for a moment if you automatically said ‘yes’ to all requests for your time and attention. What would happen?

You’d spend your days working on other people’s projects and goals, and wouldn’t have time for your own. When you say ‘no’ to something, you are in effect saying ‘yes’ to all the things *you* want to do.

This could be the DIY crafts you want to make, the tropical vacations you want to take, the carefully planned museum outings, or the guitar lessons you’ve been eying for the past several months. Which of your projects and goals do you want to support wholeheartedly?       

You focus your energy on what really matters.

When you gracefully say ’no’ to an frivolous invitation, something wonderful happens. All of a sudden, you feel a little less stressed. Your mind is a little clearer, and it feels as if a burden has been lifted from your shoulder.

Once you make the decision to say ‘no,’ and actually do so, you transfer all those worrisome thoughts and what-ifs into real mental energy you can use. You can focus your attention on the important stuff: making career choices that make your heart sing, building your relationships with family and friends, and working on a healthy exercise and diet regime.

How about you? Where you do you draw the line and say ‘no’ when it comes to your schedule? What schedule items or pursuits do you fiercely protect? Join the conversation and leave a comment below!