I am a subject matter expert on very few things (ask my team or my family) – however, I am a Master Craftsman at saying NO! (Ask them about this too! They would also likely say it is hard to distinguish between Steve Carell in this video clip and me.) I believe saying “NO” is critical to FOCUS, to achieving the benefits of Paredo’s Law, to effectiveness, to productivity, to Mastery, to success and to stable mental health. (Well, maybe I should have left that last one out.)  Three of my favorite recent posts on the topic:

James Altucher @ The Altucher Confidential in his post: How to Be More Productive. “…Life is simple. Saying “Yes” adds complexities to that: yes I will buy X, yes I will have sex, yes I will have that meeting and this meeting and that meeting, yes I will do that deal, yes I will buy that stock, yes I will that house. Yes, I will meet for just a drink. Don’t ever do anything you don’t want to do…No. Stop. Do I want to go visit some relatives five hours away. No. Do I want to go make a speech about something boring. No. Every time you say “No” you add to the value of your time. You add to the value of your body. Your mind. Your emotions. Your time, each second.  You add to the value of right NOW. You respected yourself. Every time you say “NO” you put money in the bank. When thoughts are angry and you say “no” to them, your brain gets stronger, more flexible. When you say “no” to the worries of your future, your future leaves open the possibility and probability of more abundance, since most worries are just fictions. So when should you ever say “yes”? When you love something. Then say “yes” to it. That’s it.”

[Read more…]