You have been invited to an industry conference, and a critical business review is scheduled at the same time. Should you accept the invitation or decline it?
A colleague wants your help on a business project you are not involved in. The project is not relevant to you, but you are not sure whether you should say yes or no.
A client wants you to deliver a specific customized module. As a product company that does not do bespoke customizations, should you say yes or no?
It’s easy to say no to choices that are not good or relevant. However, when the options are like the ones I describe, what is the right call to make?
Saying yes creates an obligation; when you say yes, you commit to something. Unfortunately, saying yes to any request can feel convenient in the moment, even though intuitively, you know it won’t move you forward. We often say yes out of a sense of obligation, to be polite, or to avoid hurting someone’s feelings.
I have a simple heuristic for saying yes. Saying yes consumes time, while saying no creates time. If you can measure your efficiency in the context of time, you should say yes only when you know the choice creates value for the time it demands from you. Otherwise, it’s better to say no.
Never say yes just because you feel obligated to. If you decide to say yes, make sure it’s for a reason that matters to you.
I am choosing to say yes because attending the conference will allow me to meet two important industry leaders I have been trying to meet for a long time.
Or, I am choosing to say yes to the specific customization request because we can convert it into a product feature relevant to other clients.