Looking back, I used to be intrigued, and frustrated, with people who put me off. “Call back next week;” “Don’t call me, I’ll call you,” “I’m headed into a meeting, can we do this another time.” Mostly, I’m talking about cold calls, but not necesarily. Then, when I do get ahold of them, they can’t see me for two weeks. Really? You’re that booked?…I doubt it.
Reading The 4 Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss, it dawned on me (only because the book was explicit about) that the strategy taught in the book is what these people were practicing. Some of them even naturally.
The technique is to practice saying, “no.” I had heard this when listening to time management tapes, etc. But, my desire to crammed as much activity into my 24/7 as possible overcame this – that’s time management, right? Also, I was of the philosphy that, you know, “if you want something done, give it to a busy person.” And I wanted to be that busy person in order to “earn more responsibility. Well, I achieved my goal of filling up my time.
So what happened? I guess I was just ripe to hear the message this time. You know how things come back into your life at opportune times and if you’re not prepared, you miss the lesson? And, at other times, you live the phiosophy that luck is preparation meeting opportunity. And, if you want to be able to act on certain oppportunities, you have to have had cleared up your schedule so that you can take advantage of the opportunity and “seize the day!”
Anyways, practice saying “no” to every request that comes in. Just for a short period of time, like a few days, at first. “Not right now.” “I’m really to busy right now” “I have too much on my plate,” “I’d like to really, but…”
If you are getting this quite often, you can take this as “how not to take it personally.” It’s easier to understand it, if you’re doing it, as well.
Photo credit: Flickr – Mag3737
