‘No’ is a Powerful Productivity Strategy

“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.”_Hans Hofmann

A few years ago, I read a short but interesting book entitled; ‘Eat that Frog,’ written by an American productivity strategist, Brian Tracy.

At the beginning of the book, Brian writes about his extensive research on time management, maximum efficiency and personal effectiveness for more three decades. 

With that wealth of knowledge and experience, he concluded that to get control of our time and life, we don’t have to work too hard, we only need to change ‘the way we deal with the never-ending river of responsibilities that flow over us each day.’ 

He said we would get control of our life and ‘activities only to the degree that we stop doing some things and start spending more time on the few activities that can really make a difference.’

In this direction, the author of ‘Greatness Guide’ Robin Sharma puts the same concept across to his inner circle in the following powerful words: 

“Focus. Focus. Focus on your burning priorities.

Say no to everything else; life is short.

You only get one shot at great.”

As we can see, the true experts of peak performance have all realized the special importance of the negative-seeming word ‘NO’ when it comes to getting significant, positive things done. 

Evidently, no matter how many efficiency tips we aggressively master, we can never get everything done in any given day. 

Why? 

Simply because of a simple truth; there will always be more to do than we can ever do in any 24-hour day.

Whether the period is a day, a week, a year, and even a lifetime, we can’t ever get everything completely done but we can intentionally get really important things done.

So in the face of that undeniable truth: the way out is to say ‘no’ to things of little or no significance so we can conserve time and energy for things of true significance.

In the words of an American author, Scott Belsky: “It is only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that really matter.”

Though saying no to distractions can be hard, yet it is an art that will improve with practice. And, once we see the benefits of deliberate prioritization— by elimination— in our work and lives, we will never go back to the way of frantic busyness again.

Greg Mckeown expressed the same idea in his book, ‘Essentialism.’ Below is relevant quote on the subject at hand from his wonderful bestseller. He writes:

“Only once you give yourself the permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.”

In finality, never forget that: ‘No’ is one of the only high performance tools you will ever need to get maximum results in life with minimum use of your time and energy. 

So instead of surrendering your agency to the urgency of everything, set your own priorities and lead—by choosing to jettison anything that stands in your way.