Say no for a while

Test drive big changes to your schedule

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to say no for a while. Taking something
off your plate for a little bit can be a

(00:25):
temporary step to chucking it for good. We're seeing if
you'd like to keep doing it after all. Today's tip,
like some others this week, comes from Laura May Martin's
new book Up Time. Martin is Google's productivity guru, coaching
executives there on how to be more efficient with their schedules.

(00:45):
Martin notes that there is much to the common productivity
advice to say no more often, But if you work
in a big corporate environment where you need to be
seen as a team player, he might want to shape
that now in a way that keeps your relationship strong.
So how might you do that? One approach is to

(01:08):
say no for a little while. In her book, Martin
says that when people want to make a change to
their schedule, sometimes they are hesitant. What if I move
John from weekly to monthly and then it feels like
we're not meeting frequently enough. Martin writes that these changes
to your schedule do not have to be permanent. Try

(01:29):
a three month trial period. If you drop off a
committee but miss it, sign back up. If you and
John do email all the time because you aren't meeting enough,
meet more often. If you never test your assumptions, she writes,
you may never know the right link for recurrence of

(01:49):
a meeting. The key is coming up with some reason
to start a change. But as we've talked about in
recent Before Breakfast episodes, life can feature a lot of transitions,
So just pick one. Maybe you are staffed on something
big and new, so you tell another team that a

(02:12):
deputy will be taking over that team status meeting for
the next month while you get the new thing going.
That doesn't sound like you are abandoning the project, but
who knows. Maybe your deputy will do an awesome job
now that project is running without your constant active input.

(02:33):
That is generally a good thing. No can feel hard
to say, but it is sometimes easier to say no
for a little while. Then that no can revert to
a yes, or it can become a permanent no, but
it will give you a little space to think about

(02:55):
it so you can make the right choice for yours
and for other schedules in the meantime, this is Laura.
Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've

(03:20):
got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

(03:42):
your favorite shows.