Ultimate Productivity Hack

Saying NO is the ultimate productivity hack of all times.

Not doing something is faster than doing something.
Not writing code is faster than writing code.
Not having a meeting is faster than having a meeting.
Not accepting to do something is faster than committing and struggling.

My intent is not to stop you from doing or coding or meeting or accepting. It is just that we accept too many things that we can't accomplish and finally struggle inside us. We don't want to be rude or harsh or inconsiderate to people whom we love, respect and work with so we end up saying yes even when we want to say no.

Think about yes and no as time debt and time credit. By saying yes to one thing now, you say no to many things in the future which could be accomplished if you had time and freedom in the future.

Yes is a commitment. No is ticket to freedom.

Every yes ideally should move you in the right direction towards your goal and protect you from distractions that steal your time. Saying no in other words is saying focused YES to things that matter to you.

By saying No, you preserve your freedom.

Here are some tips to say no effectively 👇

• Start with a default No and slowly upgrade the No to yes based on evidences that compels you to say Yes.
• "This" one question is a great litmus test for NO. Will you drop everything you are doing to jump into the opportunity? If your answer is "Hell Yeah" then say yes and for everything else say Hell no. Borrowed from Derek Sivers.
• Elimination >> Efficiency. Doing something that doesn't matter well doesn't give us a brownie points. Start with things that matter and then slowly move to doing them efficiently and effectively.
• Your NOs need to change over time as you evolve. So evolve your NOs accordingly. What was a great opportunity 2 years ago need not be great anymore for you. So weigh the options carefully.
• Saying NO to all things helps you to explore what truly excites you. Discovering self starts with a NO.

🥂 to NO!