Remember – whatever you say “yes” to means you are saying “no” to something else. Make sure you that what you say “yes” to represents your priorities or you will find you are living a frustrated and unrewarding life.
 

This one is so simple, it is obvious: you don't even have to say "no"...... you can always make a counter-offer:

whenever someone makes an unreasonable request, you can say "yes" by saying:

"I cannot do that -
let me tell you what I CAN do"

(do NOT put a "but" in the middle!) -
and then, make your counteroffer....

Say you are asked to provide cakes for 100 people on one day's notice: reply "I cannot do that - let me tell you what I CAN do" - what you CAN do does not have to bear any relationship to the request. Then make your counteroffer:

"Let me tell you what I CAN do - I have the phone number of the best bakery - and they deliver! So let me tell you what I CAN do - I can give you the number of the bakery."


No explanation, no apology. And it's much smaller than the request they made!


This is fun! Try this everywhere.... it works personally and it works just as well in business.

For example, you receive a request at 6pm: "I need a fully detailed report on this particular business issue on my desk by noon tomorrow" - it will mean working all night. Most women executives will react by thinking "WOW! What an honour to entrust me with this! I guess I will stay up all night and prepare the perfect version of this report because "I am woman - hear me ROAR"!"

Here comes the new way: "Let me tell you what I can do. I will have an outline of the salient points - 2 pages - by 2pm tomorrow."

This IS a yes! But it takes a lot less time to do an outline....

And what about phone calls - most people do not batch and prioritize them in a way that serves them best. Most of us have voicemail - so do let your voicemail take your messages for at least two hours - even when you are not in meetings. You can get an amazing amount done if you are not interrupted.

Then, when you finish, rather than answering or returning them in the order you received them - prioritize them carefully.

When you return the call, tell them "I have five minutes! I wanted to get back to you right away! (yours is the most important call) I have five minutes. (do say it twice)"

If you know this person is usually a ten minute call, cut it in half, tell them you have HALF that time (or less if you want to spend less time). Do not tell them what your next obligation is - it could be the next phone call. Do NOT explain. Just start by telling them how much time you have.

Do this "religiously" and you could find you have a new life.

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 Are you giving too much to get too little? If you think so, send an email to  bs@futurevisions.org with
"MWS Top Ten Life Tenderizers" in the subject and nothing in the body and receive the top ten "motion sickness cures".

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