As I shared in last week’s solo episode, Free Time isn’t about time management or productivity, or even simply doing work more efficiently. It is about setting time free.
If our time is trapped like a bird in a cage, unless we break free of shoulds and obligations, there it will remain. We achieve this through smarter systems, and that includes getting better at saying no.
My own tendency to say yes — in an effort to be liked, to please others, to be accommodating, or even to continue trying to “do right” by my work in promoting it — leads to burnout and resentment when to many “yeses” create time confetti and tiredness. In this episode, I’m sharing strategies that I’ve picked up along the way for doing the very hard thing of disappointing others by saying no.
🌟 Key Takeaways
📝Permission: Treat indecision as the decision that it often is: no! Separate the guilt or shoulds you feel from what your intuition is saying to you. Would you initiate this request with joy, unprompted, or are you saying yes out of obligation?
✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Craft a graceful reply for a decision you’re facing, and don’t over-explain or defend your decision. Save your “graceful no” replies in the same place (I use Notion and TextExpander) so that you can return to them when facing the next tough no.
📘Books Mentioned:
🎧Related Podcast Episodes:
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172: Free Time Isn’t Just for the Fun Days
171: Discovering Your Divine Assignment with Melissa Hughes (while Building with Grace and Ease)
170: 🌈 “Imagine a World of Abundance” ✨
169: Running a Goal-Free Business with Stephen Shapiro
168: Five Ways to Reduce Overwhelm When Writing (aka Thinking)
167: Transform Your Approach to Community-Building with Gina Bianchini
166: Crashing into Quiet Time 🏝️
165: Are Your Clients Bringing Out the Best in You? Engineering the Evolution of Your Business with Ilise Benun
164: Let’s Talk Royalties re: Publishing Options (Part Two)
163: Leveraging Idea Kernels to Create Compelling Content with Khe Hy
162: Should You Self-Publish? (Part One)
161: Inbox Taming with Yaro Starak
160: How to Get Better at Spotting Automation Opportunities — 5 Questions to Ask
159: Time Blocking Together with Jess & Dave Radparvar
158: How to Decide on a Book (or Big Idea) Topic—10 Filters
157: Downshifting to a Delightfully Part-Team Team with Laura Roeder
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