Learning to say no is a discipline that can be cutting-edge, but strategizing what or who you say no to is the true difference maker. Constantly saying no to everything will lead to a selfish, inconsiderate life. You might live a well-organized life and feel that you’ve achieved the ability to say no, but three areas are constantly on offense.
Guard Against Poor Nutrition
Whether you focus on your strengths or weaknesses, poor nutrition is a relentless enemy. Having great nutrition habits doesn’t mean you don’t want to enjoy some terrific food and drink that might not be the healthiest options. People who have tremendous discipline and a great diet such as Dwayne Johnson, still indulge in a cheat day.
Perhaps, you don’t plan the best meals or know how to select the best nutrition on the go, so it’s a weakness you’ve always struggled with. Saying no to poor nutrition presents a vast amount benefits. Saying no to the wrong food and drink temporarily will allow you to say yes to that same selection at a more tactile time.
Eating fast food every day for lunch could be changed to eating it only on a dedicated cheat day. Remain in control of your life and the decisions you make through discipline. If lunch with friends causes you to over eat, guard against it. People pleasers can use a homemade lunch or even an empty lunch box to help you say no.
Guard Against Procrastination
Criticism comes and even the negative can be shifted to a positive perspective. It’s hard to view procrastination in a positive way. According to Psychology Today, there is active procrastination. Active procrastination is being purposeful in the way you decide to procrastinate.
Being active in this way is like taking a break, but a break from a project doesn’t mean laying around. Active breaks are how epiphanies strike. Many great things have come from moments of procrastination, but procrastinating itself is generally an enemy that attempts to sweep your feet out from under you.
Jumping over procrastination, like a jump rope, requires action. Think of why athletes need to warm up. Being without movement will slow or stop momentum. Procrastination wants you to stop, so it attempts to trip you up. The moment you want to slow down or rest when you should be working is the moment you are vulnerable to procrastination. Find your method to defend yourself from falling by staying on guard against your patient foe.
Guard Against the Unexpected
Face it, your day will never go as planned because you’re a human, not a god; the unexpected will come. Saying no to the unexpected can also prevent procrastination and poor nutrition habits. Things pop up as urgent, but as Stephen Covey states in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, everything that’s urgent isn’t always important.
Prioritizing the unexpected is one great way to stay on guard, allowing you to succeed. You might not plan for a promotion or to fall in love, but those types of unexpected occurrences are blessings that shouldn’t receive a denial.
Using your intuition will help you decide what’s best. Guarding against a coworker that wants to conversate, distracting you from concentrating or achieving your best, is different from having to do extra work or fill in for another coworker that’s absent. Beat your enemy’s tactics by identifying, prioritizing, and strategizing what and who you say yes or no to.
Having the courage to say no is the first obstacle to overcome. Empower yourself to say no by remembering that it’s not always permanent. If you say no to gossip or social media at work, then you can say yes to it outside of work. The purpose of being tactile with your decisions is to help you be more in control of your life and still enjoy the pleasures it has to offer. Get control back and harness your power within.
