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

I was listening to an incredibly informative podcast yesterday with one of the authors of “The No Club.” The authors, professors and academic leaders, started “The No Club” 12 years ago as an informal support group to address the feeling that they “were drowning in [their] jobs and suffering both personally and professionally.” It’s all about not saying, “Yes,” to non-promotable work like regularly agreeing to buy the cupcakes, or plan the party, or get the group’s baby shower gift. 

I think The No Club is a brilliant idea for anyone who regularly says yes and takes on yet another task. Through their research, these academics determined that all of these yeses added up to 200+ hours of extra work each year! What would you do with an extra 200+ hours? Something fun, I hope. 

Look, we know we say, “Yes,” too often. Listening to this podcast reminded me that I can say, “No,” —and I am already pretty good at saying no, but I can say it more. Saying, “No,” seems negative and selfish and to a certain extent, it is, but for good reason. Saying “No,” is about actually saying, “Yes,” to you. Yes to your mental health and well-being. Yes to your work-life balance. Yes to the things in life that you pine for and dream about. So the world needs to hear, “No,” from us more often. Let someone else buy the cupcakes—and I hear you right now saying, “But they won’t buy the right ones, you know the really good ones that we were going to go WAY out of our way to buy or make!” That might be true, but you just got a lot of time back on your calendar to do something you really want to do. And nobody gets promoted for “cupcake buying.” So what will it be?

Let’s GO! WE GOT THIS!

Beth