This is a YouTube video titled "#272: The Upside of Saying No" published in July 2024, featuring Ed Gandia hosting an episode of the High Income Business Writing Podcast. The content is a solo podcast episode where Ed shares a quick tip about the importance of saying no to less ideal opportunities to preserve time and capacity for better ones, referencing insights from James Clear's book Atomic Habits.
Welcome to the High Income Business Writing Podcast, helping you propel your writing business to a whole new level. And now, here's your host, Ed Gandia.
Hey there.
Welcome to another episode of the High Income Business Writing Podcast. The number one podcast for business writers and copywriters who want to earn more and less time doing work they love for better clients. With over 1 million downloads from listeners just like you across 101 countries, this episode is much shorter than usual. Rather than my typical 45 minute format. Today I'm sharing a quick tip with you. This is part of the audio insights I publish for my private coaching clients every weekday and I thought you'd find it helpful.
So here we go. Hope you enjoy it. Author of the excellent book Atomic Habits, James Clear recently reminded me of a very powerful truth. He said when you say no, you're only saying no to one option. When you say yes, you're saying no to every other option. Now think about that for just a second. Until I read this statement, I always thought of yes and no as opposite scenarios, as equals. You know, one side of the coin versus the other. But James Clear makes it really obvious that they're not equals. Not when you're making decisions. When you say yes to something, you're now locked in. That commitment keeps you from taking advantage of so many other better choices. You've committed your capacity until that activity or that task or project is over. What about when you say no? Well, the downside of saying no to a bad or average choice is minimal, right? But think about the upside. The upside is massive because you've turned down only one thing and you now have the time and bandwidth to say yes to something much better. So when you say yes to a client or project, that's just not a fit. But you're doing it out of fear. You're saying no to every other option out there. Now sure, you may feel you don't have any other options at that moment, but just because you can't see those options because they haven't materialized yet doesn't mean they don't exist. The ideal opportunity might turn up the very next day and now you don't have the time or the capacity to take it on. And sure, you might try to do both anyway. But will you be able to do great work if you're now way over committed? There's always a trade off. Something's got to give. Look, we all have a limited amount of time to do all the things we want to do, but we often treat our time as if it's a given as if we have an unlimited supply of days and we make choices accordingly. We say yes to too many things, to many people, to too many opportunities. I know I am very very guilty of this and before we know it we're stretched way too thin with little or no time for the people and the things that matter most or time is not guaranteed. So choose wisely. Don't feel bad when you have to say no because when you do you open up time and resources for other much better opportunities.
Well that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed the episode and just a quick reminder to grab your free copy of my latest book Earn More in Less Time the Proven Mindset, Strategies and Actions to Prosper as a Freelance writer. You can get your free copy at B2B launcher where you will also find the detail show notes to this and all my other episodes. Enjoy and have a great day.
