Harness the power of ‘no’

Reports from early childhood indicate that ‘no’ was my first word.

Maybe that’s why I’ve never hesitated to say no in my professional life. Not because I’m a negative person. Rather the opposite: I’m quite positive about what I want.

It’s been my experience that really positive things can come out of a negative. They are two sides of the same coin. But here’s the tricky part: you have to say yes to harness the power of no.

Let me give you an example.

I said no to a new job opportunity not long ago because I really believed I could do great things as a consultant. I needed to close one door to open the other.

That was my ‘yes’ – starting a new business. Saying no allowed me to focus on what I really wanted to achieve in my career.

And recently, I turned down a potentially exciting project that would have brought me a lot of exposure. Not because I don’t need it, but because it would have prevented me from saying yes to a lot of other work for clients I value.

In a culture that reveres the yes, here are 3 reasons to just say no: read more