It was an email I got last week.

    It was a response to something I had requested from someone.

    The way the email started may sound reasonable.  Maybe you’ve said it on occasion.  Maybe you’ve thought it on occasion.  But it’s code.

    It’s code for something else.

    It’s not that she didn’t get a chance to…  It’s that the thing wasn’t important enough to her.  And that’s ok.  She’s not me.  She’s in a different organisation.  She has other constraints, priorities, etc.

    No one can do everything.  We all need to be judicious as to where we apply our limited resources.  Our business deserves us to operate that way.

    It’s not just ok to not do something because it’s not important enough.  It’s necessary.

    When we say “no” to the stuff that isn’t important enough, it leaves us with more time to work on the more important stuff.  To do more of the important stuff and/or do the important stuff better.

Get better at saying no – unapologetically!