In this Facebook Live segment, Charlie Hugh‑Jones introduces his new daily micro‑learning series called “Elevenses with Charlie,” a brief morning break where he shares insights from his work with clients. He centers the talk on the concept of saying 1,000 “no’s” before arriving at the one decisive “yes,” citing Warren Buffett’s investment discipline as a prime example. Charlie explains how constant opportunities and distractions lead to costly context switching—estimated at a 20% loss of productivity—and why mastering the art of saying no is essential for entrepreneurs and professionals. He differentiates strategy (the why behind decisions) from tactics (the immediate how), arguing that a strategic “no” aligns with long‑term goals while tactical “no’s” create daily space. The session ends with a call to action: viewers are invited to comment, message him, claim a free 30‑minute strategy session, and explore additional resources on his website and YouTube channel.
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Hey, good morning! Wednesday morning. I kind of figured that I'm doing this Facebook Live at the same time that I did on Monday, which is around 11, 11:30. I've got my coffee. Welcome, come on board. We used to call this elevenses as an Englishman. 11 o'clock in the morning in very traditional circles used to be when you got a little treat. You got to have the Biscuit. Sorry, biscuit— cookie, I should be saying. Cookie with your morning coffee or tea as a break from the work that you start at 8 o'clock, you'd get to 11, and you'd have a little break. So they called it elevenses. So I'm thinking of calling this Facebook Live Elevenses with Charlie. Tell me what you think, I'd love to hear. Put a comment down below, see if that works for you, see if it's a little bit too quirky. I don't mind if it is, but just Maybe I'm going to start doing this every day because there's little treats of things that I'm learning myself, things that I'm working through with my clients that I want to share with you, if that's okay. So I'll just wait a minute or two more to see who comes on live this Wednesday morning. And I've titled— I've asked this question right at the beginning for you today is, have you said 1,000 nos to get to the right yes? Now yesterday, I was talking about the power of no. The day before, I was talking about the power of now. What I mean by that is, yesterday I gave the example of being able to put away— well, it wasn't yesterday, actually it was Monday. I skipped yesterday. There's reasons for that. Maybe you'll find out shortly. On Monday, I was talking about being able to say no to the chaos and freneticism and ultimate demand of a Monday morning and feeling that I had to get straight into work. In order to create space and time to center myself, to work out my body through yoga so that I was in a better place to make great decisions, to know how to focus, to have confidence in being able to make those decisions that take me toward my goal faster than if I took decisions that weren't taking me towards my goals. So I was making space by saying a no to most people's typical Monday morning In order to practice yoga. Now today, I want to talk about the 1,000 nos. I'm sure you, as most of us, have heard of Warren Buffett. Now Warren Buffett has said on a number of occasions that his job is to say no. I was sharing this at a business roundtable this morning here in West Palm Beach. That's why I'm a little bit more formal than wearing my yoga top that you all saw me in on Monday. We have this great session, quarter past 7 in the morning, an hour and a quarter, an hour and a half, being able to share business insights, to grow one another, to challenge, to make referrals. And that was this morning. And I was talking a little bit about 1,000 nos. Because Warren Buffett said his job is to say no. He gets 1,000 investment theses across his desk every week. And he has to say, no, no, not that one, not yet, no, many, many times in order for him to get to the point where he says, yes, this is where we're going to put money, this is how we're going to invest. Because that one yes, that right yes, for Warren Buffett can make the difference between making zero money, losing money, or making billions. For him, because that's why he's known as the Sage of Omaha. So Warren Buffett's job is to say no. Now, if you're anything like me, or how I was in business, we are bombarded by a huge constant stream of opportunity and information and distraction perhaps, and demand as well. So for us, mastering our no is absolutely crucial in being more productive. I don't know if you've heard about something called context switching. This is a very real example of how to make some quick wins today that I'm just gonna give you that will increase— that if you get this right, will increase the flow of decision-making. I made a note here, I just wanna read it to you because it's quite important. That when you get this right, the amount of effort, resources, and time it takes to achieve your goals shrinks dramatically. So that's what I want to share with you this morning. Context switching is the amount of loss, the amount of time, a lot of productivity we lose due to multitasking or switching attention between so many opportunities. And this very famous computer scientist who was doing a lot of work in projects found that every time we switch from one task to another, the re-engagement time, the time it takes for us to bring our attention back, the time for us to get back into flow is about 20%. So we lose 20%. And a study when I first started working many, many years ago was absolutely frightening. They were trying to teach me as an attorney as I was how to practice my 6-minute focus because every hour was broken down into 6-minute units and I had to be chargeable for each 6-minute unit rather than non-chargeable, which was non-productive time. They were teaching us to focus and they were showing that the majority of employees in a lot of large companies are productive for only 26 minutes in their 7.5-hour working day. And this was due to context switching, switching between tasks, not staying on focus, not staying on mission, not paying attention to the task in front of them. Being called into endless meetings, being— checking many more emails, all the texts that came in. You name it, there are so many things. And as a small business owner, as an entrepreneur, as a professional, you are going to be bombarded, like I said. But you have to know when to use your no, and understanding the criteria you're going to use to say no is important. Now, I just want to tell you the difference between tactics and strategy. I get asked numerous, and I was asked again this morning, Charlie, why do you term yourself a life and business strategist? Why aren't you a life coach, or why aren't you an executive coach? And I say, well, strategy is about where you're going, what you're trying to achieve. Strategy is ultimately about your why. Tactics are very much about the now, And taking a decision now to make an interim goal. So let me put it this way. When I'm talking about the power of a positive no, sometimes it is just tactical. It is, I want to make more space today. I need to get through more things today. I need to be able to get to that one thing today. And that's a tactical decision. And that's based on what you do and how you do it and making tweaks to your systems and routines to change that so you can create more space. And that's the application of a no in a day. You have to look at the daily goals, what you're trying to achieve, what's important that day, and be able to pick when you understand how you go about things and what you're doing, when to use your no. What are you turning away from? What are you deciding not to focus on in order to remain doing the one thing? Or how are you not trying to make sure your schedule's overburdened? So that's a tactical application. But the strategic strategic application is the why you are making a decision to say no. Not the what or the how, the why. And that the decision to say no moves you closer to your ultimate goals, the things that matter most, not just that day, but overall in your growth and in your journey and what you're trying to do in your business. And that definition of Why is crucial. So I'm going to leave you with this. This is the parting thing for me is, how much have you reflected on why you do what you do? I think tomorrow's post is going to be about that. It's going to be fantastic. I look forward to seeing you there. Today though, I was just asking the question, have you said 1,000 whys— sorry, 1,000 nos to get to your right yes? The question I'm going to ask tomorrow is, do you understand the why you do what you do? And we'll be taking a look at that. So that's it from me. 11sies with Charlie. I've got my coffee. I'm going to finish this now. Thank you for hanging out with me. If you're watching this on the replay and it's not 11:00 AM, it's 11:00 at night, I hope you get a good night's sleep. Whenever the time you watch that, it's great. If any of this has resonated with you, if you want to talk about this further or start a conversation, First of all, you can put a comment down below. Let's start that. And if there's anything I've said that you disagree with, comment on it and let's see who else joins you and has a perspective on it. Because we all have perspectives. Not one of us is right all the time, although I've talked about right, yes. So I'd love to see comments down there. If you want to talk to me about something, private message me. A lot of things often come up when I'm talking to clients who have just— it sparked another thought, it sparked a problem or a challenge that you're looking to overcome. You have a goal and just the steps to getting there are not clear yet. If you want some help with that, get in touch, private message me, head on over to charliehughjones.com. And why don't you claim your free 30-minute strategy session with me? If that's something of interest to you, that's been powerful for a number of people I've worked with recently. They just want to establish, level set where they are, where do they want to go, and what are the steps they can take to get there. And let's look at the first immediate action you can take, the decision you're going to make in order for tomorrow to be different today, moving closer to your goal tomorrow than, than you were today. So that's a free 30-minute strategy session with me. Book that online on the website charliehughjones.com. There's other resources on my YouTube channel, uh, youtube.com/charliehughjones. How to make great decisions, how How to manage your reaction to anything, how to know your life's purpose. There's a lot of resources there that may be of interest to you, so head on over there. Or you can stay right here on the Unlocking the Best Version of You Facebook page. More resources are gonna be posted every day. I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow if you're gonna tune in for my Facebook Live. Yep, I think I'm gonna go with elevenses with Charlie, unless someone tells me that's an absolutely horrible phrase. Which I might revisit. So thanks for tuning in. If you're not a client of mine already, I'm not gonna see you there. If you've not been at one of my seminars, if you weren't at the roundtable that we had this morning, if you're not in any of my masterclasses, I look forward to seeing you there sometime. But until then, bye for now. Bye.
