Doing less is an important part of being an effective founder. And saying "no" to people and things is the #1 tool for doing less.
I confess I'm not great at it. Some people take hearing "no" very personally, no matter how tactfully the message is delivered. And oftentimes the resulting conversation is more painful than the "no" itself.
Consequently, I have large inboxes full of many emails and DMs that I haven't replied to yet. I hope to go back and address many of them eventually. Sometimes I do. But usually that time is better spent improving something on Indie Hackers, or calling my mom.
Thanks for sharing this @csallen! (and thanks for the RT, means a lot)
I do think saying no is easier said than done.
For example - take a look at the template from Tim Ferriss - that's aspirational but is it realistic? Maybe to someone's cold email - but it gets MUCH harder (for me) to say no to someone in person, say no to a paying customer, or say no to a friend.
This would be really funny if these were all sourced by contacting well known business people with stupid requests. Unfortunately most the time they would just not respond.
That's a neat little tool! This reminds me of one of the books, that I'm currently reading: "Essentialism. The disciplined pursuit of less" by Greg McKeown. I highly recommend it. Just today I read some similar templates for saying no.
Doing less is an important part of being an effective founder. And saying "no" to people and things is the #1 tool for doing less.
I confess I'm not great at it. Some people take hearing "no" very personally, no matter how tactfully the message is delivered. And oftentimes the resulting conversation is more painful than the "no" itself.
Consequently, I have large inboxes full of many emails and DMs that I haven't replied to yet. I hope to go back and address many of them eventually. Sometimes I do. But usually that time is better spent improving something on Indie Hackers, or calling my mom.
Yes @patwalls Lovely bit of side-project marketing.
Reminds me of a Courtney Carver quote: I don't say "no" because I'm so busy. I say "no" because I don't want to be so busy.
Thanks for sharing this @csallen! (and thanks for the RT, means a lot)
I do think saying no is easier said than done.
For example - take a look at the template from Tim Ferriss - that's aspirational but is it realistic? Maybe to someone's cold email - but it gets MUCH harder (for me) to say no to someone in person, say no to a paying customer, or say no to a friend.
I'm working on it too.
This would be really funny if these were all sourced by contacting well known business people with stupid requests. Unfortunately most the time they would just not respond.
This is an excellent resource, although there is something strikingly missing: "How to say no to: Your Kids". Does involve plugging your ears?
I had to say no twice today to a D&I tech project of unorganized people. They would not accept that my no means no. Thanks for the validation!!!
So hard and yet so important.
Thanks for sharing.
That's a neat little tool! This reminds me of one of the books, that I'm currently reading: "Essentialism. The disciplined pursuit of less" by Greg McKeown. I highly recommend it. Just today I read some similar templates for saying no.
This is awesome. Definitely going to tweet it.