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How to Know Which Opportunities to Say No To

Knowing When to Say No to Opportunities

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How to Know Which Opportunities to Say No To

Success creates opportunities, but not all of them are right for you. In episode #1202 of The BIGG Success Show, learn a simple framework to decide what deserves your yes.

[Podcast Transcript]

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[George] One of my earliest businesses was a construction business. We found two houses that we planned to buy, remodel, and sell. (“Flipping” wasn’t a popular term back then.) The seller was facing a significant cash flow squeeze, due to over-expansion.

We completed the acquisition of the two properties. But then, another opportunity presented itself. It was a vacant lot that we could build a speculative (“spec”) house on. So, instead of building a house for a specific customer, we built the house and then looked for a buyer.

My initial instinct was to pass on the spec house. But I’m not a “pass” kind of guy. Besides, all three properties made me feel like saying “No” would mean missing out on an opportunity to make more profit. So I said, “Yes”.
At first, it felt energizing. Productive. Successful even.

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Future Shock! Why You Over-commit

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shock You’re backed up with work. There’s no time to spare. You’re busy, busy, busy. You eat your lunch at your desk and keep plugging away. An hour passes, then another. It looks like another late night at the office. And it’s Friday. Guess you’ll be working this weekend. As evening approaches, you get a call from a friend who is chairing the fundraising committee this year for his favorite charity. He asks if you’d help raise money this year. The campaign kicks off in a month. Oh, what the heck you say – it’s over a month away. No problem!

You don’t think anymore about it. The weeks turn into a month. You get an e-mail reminding you of the first committee meeting. You’re just as busy now as you were when you committed to it. But now you have yet another obligation – you have to serve on this committee.

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The future becomes the present

A study done a while back showed that we do have a tendency to think we will miraculously be less busy in the future than we are today. So we say “yes” to requests for our time in the future. Then we’re shocked when the future becomes the present and we have even less time than we had before.

We’ve overcommitted ourselves … again!

5 questions to ask before committing yourself

The first question is simply a check. It may be obvious, but we didn’t feel we could leave it out.

  • How will this request advance me toward my goals? If it doesn’t, why say yes.

The next four questions aren’t sequential. They should be answered simultaneously.

  • If you had to do this tomorrow or next week, would you still say yes? If you can’t say yes to this question without hesitation, why commit yourself? But consider the next question before saying “no”.

  • How significant would the impact be on your life if you say yes? You may be willing to pay the price of overextending yourself if the pay off is high enough. If that’s the case, look at the next question.

  • How much time will it realistically take? You can only operate in a state of hyper-activity for a short period of time. If it will take a year, you can’t push yourself that hard. So if it’s a long-term project you may have to say no. If it’s short-term you may be able to say yes. In either case, consider the next question.

  • What am I willing to say “no” to or put “on hold” in order to do this? You only have 24 hours in your day just like any human. Will you sleep less? Spend less time with your family? Skip your next vacation? Be realistic about what you have to give up. Is it worth the price? 

Once you’ve answered these questions, you’re ready to commit (or not commit) your time in the future. You understand that you won’t have more time then. So you’ll be careful to only commit to those things which will make you a bigg success!

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We greatly appreciate you reading our post today. Join us next time as we look at the difference between being battle-scarred and battle-scared. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00267-111808.mp3

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Ask Yourself This Before You Say “Yes”

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By Bigg Success Staff
06-05-08

Work – Life Balance

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There’s something to think about before you make any commitment, but especially a time commitment. You can’t get more time. That’s why it’s so important to ask yourself this question before you agree to spend your time doing anything.

If I say “yes” to this, to what am I saying “no”?

Because that’s exactly what you’re doing. You’re trading time spent on this activity, whatever it may be, for time spent doing something else.

So is the thing you’re saying “yes” to more important to you than that other activity?

Will it move you closer to your dream life than the other thing?

Will it provide the balance you desire in your life better than the other commitment?

Once you realize that saying “yes” to this new activity means saying “no” to something else, it makes it much easier to just say “no”.

Hear today's lesson and laugh on The Bigg Success Show. 

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