“The difference between average results and exceptional ones is what you avoid. Saying no to mediocre opportunities is easy. Saying NO to good opportunities is hard.
We all have the same number of hours in a week. What separates people is how they use them.”
~ Shane Parrish
1. Be quick to say No and slow to say yes: Saying Yes consumes time. Saying No creates time.
What starts as a single meeting becomes a weekly one. A small project becomes a large one. A one-time event with colleagues turns into a weekly session. The difference between average results and exceptional ones is what you avoid.
Today we’ll explore one particular kind of insidious work that bleeds your time and attention worse than a forgotten streaming subscription drains your credit card:
2. Busywork.
What is busywork? It's the crap that makes you look back on your day at 5pm and wonder, "Where the hell did the day go? I didn't get anything done!"
Busywork is the kind of thing where you tackle a bunch of small tasks; emails, calls, texts, sending files, etc. but never really making a dent on your big picture projects (Remember the 3 Whys from Day 5?). You usually do these things all at once, too-- emailing while on the phone, sending texts while on a Zoom call. (We'll tackle multi-tasking tomorrow).
The value you put on your time last week needs to be put into action yet again: Using the tools we learned, you're going to start doing something that will feel uncomfortable. Again.
You're going to say NO to ANY busywork for the first hour of your day. (And eventually, build up to 3 hours).
That means NO emails, NO texts, NO zoom calls or WhatsApp Messages, Instagram DMS, Twitter, Facebook or TikTok -- nothing that will take up your attention before you get the first HOUR of the day out of the way without busywork or distractions.
Someone wants to call you?
NO. Let it go to voicemail. You'll call them back in an hour.
Someone texted you?
NO. Reply later. It's not the end of the world if you don't respond immediately. **
Someone asked for a Zoom meeting first thing?
NO. Tell them you're booked from 9-10, but you're happy to connect anytime after then. (Yes, even if it's your boss. Test the limits of what you can say NO to. It’s usually not as big a deal as you imagined.)
Be clear about the value of your time, and don't let anyone dictate how you spend the first hour of your day. Especially people asking you to do inconsequential busywork.
Baby steps. NO takes practice. Start small, work your way up.
- Jason
Homework:
**In fact— see how many texts you can bank up before you have to respond. Become immune to the red dot with a number in it.
I did it in 2013 with Facebook notifications and got to just over 100. It became kind of a game in the end. Try it!
Note: Obviously respond to life or death emergency texts. Don’t be a dummy.
Tell me how you’re going with using these insights in the comments.
- Jason
Yeah, I wondered if you'd mention social media and phones. Because those little notifications are making you say "yes", or "maybe" to a whole lot of things that don't matter. The last thing Meta wants us to do is say "no".