A stranger asks to record a podcast, and the speaker declines by showing an empty calendar. The friend's enthusiastic reaction to this boundary-setting makes saying no feel powerful, revealing how protecting your time gets easier with practice.
Somebody came up to me, we were looking at a real estate property, and he was like, hey man, can we do a podcast? And I was like, um, I'm just in town, gonna hang out with Layla for the next few days, like, not really trying to do that. And he asked again, he was like, hey, maybe like 20 minutes, let's see, like, we can just, we can just rock one out. And I was like, well, let me show you my calendar. And I pulled up my calendar and it was all empty. And I said, see, it's— there's nothing on there. And I was like, and I just want to keep it that way. I didn't think anything of it, but he left, and then my friend just starts crying, laughing, just thinking how hilarious. He was like, I can't believe you said that. That was so boss, blah blah. And I was like, what is he talking about? You just showed him your calendar that you had nothing, and you were still like, you're still not going to get any of my time. And I didn't perceive any of this extra narrative that he added to it. But I think just being able to say no to stuff, I just do more and more and more of that, and it feels better and better and better.
