Peter Sorgenfrei explains how to decline requests without guilt by reframing no as yes to your actual priorities. He offers phrases like "I'm not able to spend time on this right now; can we do it later?" and suggests evaluating where each request ranks so some problems solve themselves.
For most of us, it's difficult to say no without feeling like we're letting somebody down. So, here's a different way of thinking about it. Essentially, by saying no to something, you're saying yes to something else. So, whenever you have to turn somebody down, think about what is it that you then can do instead. And while that may sound easy, it's probably not that easy in practice, because uttering the words no is something that most of us have a hard time doing. So, here's how I would suggest you do it. You say something like, unfortunately, I'm not able to spend time on this right now. Is it something that we can do at a later stage? Yes, that may sound like we're punting and putting it to the corner. But actually, over time, you'll see that this will let issues resolve themselves. Another way of saying no without saying no is to say, actually, in the line of priorities, where does this fall? Is this something we need to do now? Or is this something that we may consider not doing at all?
