Going from âYESâ to âNOâ
When youâre just starting out career-wise, it seems that you have to say âYesâ to a lot of things just to be out there, get recognized, have more inbound interest in your work, etc. But once that first orbit of success is reached, youâre still the same nice guy jumping on every opportunity to help. With important distinction, however: you no longer have the bandwidth to help everyone on individual basis. You have to look for more scalable mechanisms of achieving the same results.
Youâre bombarded by constant phone calls, Facebook Messenger/WhatsApp messages and emails. Everyone wants a piece of you:
Can you give the interview to our magazine?
Could you reply to our 10 questions over text so we can write an article about mobile technologies?
Can you help us host & interview the renowned guest?
Can you fly out to city X and speak at the event weâre putting together?
All the students at our university wants you to speak at our local TEDx, how does your November look like?
I Â have an idea for an app. Can we meet this week?
X told me that you should know many iOS developers and designers. Can you recommend us the best ones?
We want to spread the word about the competition/public lecture/loyalty card, can you repost our recent Facebook post / write an original story about us?
Can you review my college essay / solve the problem # 2 in my physics problemset (iâm totally serious here)?
Can you give me advice on how to apply for grad school?
Can you give me advice on what to do with my life?
Can you drop everything so we can meet over coffee and Iâll pick your brain for an hour?
And so on, and so on, and so forth.
Ultimately weâre here on this planet to realize our full potential while serving others. But at some point you just donât have enough hours in the day. Thatâs the time when you have to aggressively turn down all the requests of your time with the lowest potential impact. You have to switch from YES to NO. You have to say âNoâ to hundreds of things to get comfortable. You have to put your head down and focus on perfecting your craft. Thatâs what differentiates people who realized their full potential and those who didnât.Â













