“Our clarity becomes clouded and suddenly we find ourselves spread too thin. Ultimately our success becomes a catalyst to our failure. The only way out of this is through essentialism.” – Greg McKeown
If you don’t say no, the world will dictate your life and what becomes of it. Even though saying “yes” may have helped you get to where you are, at some point you have to say no. If you don’t, you’ll become less effective with what you aim to do and instead of helping others or yourself, you help no one. You must learn to say no to the trivial many so that you can say yes to the vital few. You have to decide.
This is true for not only saying no to others, but saying no to yourself too. You may have so many good ideas, but if you try to pursue all of them, you won’t gain traction on any of them. As Steve Jobs said, “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done.”
So what’s the lesson? Do not let yourself get spread too thin by not saying no. You can be good at a lot of things by saying yes to everything, but to become great, you have to say yes only to the important things.
