Day #29: The most powerful productivity tool ever invented is simply the word "NO." ~ Shane Parish
Day #29: The most powerful productivity tool ever invented is simply the word "NO." ~ Shane Parish
It’s not that we were given too little time to live, it’s that we wasted too much of it.
"It is the things you say NO to that really show the commitment to your growth."
~ Yung Pueblo
Life is precious. You can spend it endlessly fulfilling tasks that other people assign to you, or you can take control of your only precious, non-renewable resource and make something of the time you have left.
Via Ryan Holiday:
Some two thousand years ago, Seneca wrote eloquently about how we have “laid waste to your life when you weren’t aware of what you were losing, how much was wasted in pointless grief, foolish joy, greedy desire, and social amusements—how little of your own was left to you.”
It’s not that we were given too little time to live, it’s that we wasted too much of it.
Saying yes to things we’d be better off politely declining, jumping on every opportunity as if we had an unlimited amount of time. We protect our money, we protect our reputations, we protect our property, but our time? We act like we have more than we need. We do not.
We say that our families matter to us. We say that we want to be happy, that we are looking forward to things slowing down, and that we love peace and quiet. Yet far too often our choices betray a sadder truth—that we are addicted to obligations, that we lack the stout heart required to deliver bad news and say the dreaded words, “No” and “Sorry, I can’t.”
The most powerful productivity tool ever invented is simply the word "no."
One more day.
Remember, NO Takes practice.
Baby Steps.
See you tomorrow.
Jason
Recommended Reading:
Literally anything and everything by Ryan Holiday.