Over the past week, I’ve taken a step back and just put all of my side projects on hold. Looking at what I’ve been doing since the beginning of the year, I realize I’ve been piling on too much. The same applies to what I’ve been doing professionally at my day job. I’ve been trying to get every single request done. Promising deadlines that weren’t met became the standard. Juggling tasks from different people, causing projects to take longer and longer. I was totally beaten down by the load I was putting on and it wasn’t helping me or the people I was making bad promises to.

Last week was the pinnacle of this build up. The day started off okay but spiraled out of control. I learned an important lesson that I’ve read time and time again. For some reason, it never settled in until now. The importance of saying no.

Why You Need to Say No

Before my meltdown last week, I was trying to do it all and make everyone happy. If someone stopped by my desk and asked about the email they sent me, I would often look into it and see if I could help out. Time and time again, I would drop what I was doing to work on the next issue someone reported. The role I work in has me working with the data behind the scenes at my employer, which unfortunately means my team has a part to play in nearly all aspects of the company. This approach has often led to some partially completed projects being forgotten for the latest problem or request that has come up.

This inability to say no wasn’t only a part of my work life, but every side project that entered my mind was now being shoved into my weekly schedule. Whether it’s a podcast, video, book, business, you name it, I’ve probably started laying out the foundation in a notebook over the past four months.

Of course, this isn’t to say trying things out is bad. Hell, that’s the exact reason I started this blog. I wanted to keep an online journal of my experiences and share my thoughts with any readers. The important thing is to find out what does and doesn’t work. There isn’t enough time in the world to say yes to everything.

Opportunity Cost and Why It Matters

I was an economics major in college. A professor of mine had a quote, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” The concept he was getting at was known as opportunity cost.

Everything we do cost resources. These range from natural resources, money, time, or another opportunity. I think the last item on that list is the most neglected. If you have lunch at home, you can’t have that same meal at the diner down the street. The opportunity is now spent.

Opportunity cost is the reason saying no matters. Taking on too many responsibilities left me feeling like I was juggling chainsaws. New ones were being thrown into the mix with every thought of, “I can do that too.”

I’m still finding out what my yeses and nos are, but taking a step back and reading has definitely helped. Talking with some friends and family has definitely helped too. If you’re feeling overwhelmed or burnt out, try taking a step back and put some of your obligations on the chopping block. Ask yourself the hard questions. Tell not only others, but yourself, no.