Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to pause before saying yes. Today's tip,
Speaker 1: like others, recently comes from the book Joy at Work
Speaker 1: by Marie Condo and Scott Sunensheine. The authors talk about
Speaker 1: how to declutter your desk and declutter your calendar in
Speaker 1: order to achieve more satisfaction. In years of writing about
Speaker 1: time management, I've learned that it is incredibly important to
Speaker 1: leave open space. Stuff comes up. Plus we all need
Speaker 1: time to think. But it's really hard to say no
Speaker 1: to things, especially things that happen far in the future.
Speaker 1: We can't really claim to be busy on some random
Speaker 1: Wednesday next November. So the tendency is to say yes
Speaker 1: and then kick ourselves later. Condo and Sunenshine recommend dealing
Speaker 1: with this with a simple trick. Take a pause, simply
Speaker 1: say I'll think about it and get back to you. Then,
Speaker 1: the authors say, you can take some time to decide
Speaker 1: whether the task will spark joy. If so, great, if not,
Speaker 1: let it go. They report that the research shows that
Speaker 1: when we delay making a commitment, we feel more empowered
Speaker 1: to say no to tasks we don't enjoy, and yes
Speaker 1: to tasks we do. I think this is a great idea.
Speaker 1: If saying no is so hard that you're inclined to
Speaker 1: say yes when you mean to say no, then stepping
Speaker 1: back for a few minutes can reduce the pressure. You're
Speaker 1: not saying yes or no immediately, You're just asking for
Speaker 1: time to think about it. Then you can give an
Speaker 1: answer when you've considered everything else on your plate. So today,
Speaker 1: if someone makes a request you're unsure about, just try
Speaker 1: that simple phrase, let me think about it and get
Speaker 1: back to you, or the variations. I know this is
Speaker 1: important to you. Let me check my calendar. You get
Speaker 1: the idea. I would just make one additional suggestion. If
Speaker 1: the answer is truly no, then don't claim to be busy.
Speaker 1: If you say, oh, I'd love to do this, but
Speaker 1: I have something else Tuesday night, the person just might
Speaker 1: be willing to move it to Wednesday, and then you've
Speaker 1: got the same problem all over again. Better to tell
Speaker 1: the truth, but you can wait a little bit to
Speaker 1: get there. In the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: i'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.
Speaker 1: That's b the number for then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: At iHeartMedia dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
Speaker 1: I heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
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