Auntie Kate The Resale Expert

Do you find yourself saying a tacit “yes’… because you can’t bring yourself to say NO?

Whether it’s declining a mediocre consignment, answering a staffer’s inconvenient request for a schedule change, or committing your business’s resources to an issue or event that doesn’t feel like the right path to take…

Ya gotta learn to say NO. Here’s

some thoughts to help you do so:

Warren Buffett once said,

You’ve gotta keep control of your time and you can’t unless you say no. You can’t let people set your agenda in life.

From Seth Godin:

Just saying yes because you can’t bear the short-term pain of saying no is not going to help you do the work.

And from Steve Jobs,

It’s only by saying “No” that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.

So should your NO be that bald, or will you try to justify it with a reason you’re saying NO?

Marie Forleo advises:

Research shows that the word “because” makes people more likely to do something. It softens the blow and provides context. Just don’t let it become a back and forth as they try to convince or invalidate your why (you’ll know the people and situations where a simple “no” is best).

And from a motivational speaker, Stephanie Lahart:

Give yourself permission to say NO without feeling guilty, mean, or selfish. Anybody who gets upset and/or expects you to say YES all of the time clearly doesn’t have your best interest at heart.

Of course, the one person you should be very sparing of saying NO to… is yourself.