The Road to "No Thanks"

We’re halfway. You still with me?

The person who focuses on fewer things goes further than the person distracted by many.

— Shane Parrish

Tom Chitty is a brilliant cartoonist. He also happens to be my favourite Brit living in Canada. (Sorry, Kim Cattrall.) You can buy a print of this cartoon here.

He penned the cartoon above some time ago, and it has popped into my brain about 10 times a day ever since. Now, it will pop into yours. There is so much I recognise about myself in this gag it hurts.

Early in the challenge, I asked the question “What is your Time Worth?” I hope by now you’ve put an actual price (be it monetary or otherwise) on what an hour of your time is actually worth. Assess every request (after you Pause) as if someone is asking you for money. (Because, let’s be honest, they kind of are.)

We also explored the notion that when you do say No to stuff, you should really keep it as close to ‘NO’ as possible. Saying ‘because’ or adding ‘yeah maybe’ or ‘ok send me the thing and I’ll see just wastes more time for both you and the person making the request.

Being definitive about your “NO” is really hard, because you’re trying to close all of the gaps where a ‘but maybe’ could slip in. You don’t want to be rude, but you also don’t want to end up in a constant loop of “I’ll get right back to you — I know I owe you an email, I’m sorry!” Remember to save those scripts from Day #8.

If you need to revisit Day #6, do so here:

Day #6: What is Your Time Worth?

Baby steps. NO takes practice. Start small, and work your way up.

Tomorrow and Saturday, we’re going to look at working from a calendar instead of a To-Do List, JOMO and learning to sit with the idea of not having to fill every minute of your day.

Good luck,


- Jason